


Babble

by Dreaming_Writer



Series: Legend of Zelda Posts [1]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: (Wrong) Conclusions, And it's going to be a mess, Asthma, Attempt at Humor, Attempts at communication, Bad Nick Names, Bananas, Blood and Injury, But nothing is described too explicitely, Cars, Chapter 33 - Welcome to the real world, Chemical Reactions as weapons, Coffee, Crack Treated Seriously, Denial, Dimension Travel, Don't Try This At Home, Downfall Timeline, Freak Outs, Gen, Google knows best, Guns, Irony, Language Barrier, Legend (Linked Universe) Needs a Hug, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Magic, Memories, Misunderstandings, Panic Attacks, Photos, Portals, Post, Reader-Insert, Reality check, Realizations, Rupees, Shopping, Snark, The Author Regrets Nothing, The author is an evil person, Time Travel, Timeline Shenanigans, Updates Saturdays, Worldbuilding, Written Genderneutral so everyone may enjoy it, cursing, headcanons, i'll add tags as i go, injuries, language lessons, lots and lots of them, no beta we die like men, notebooks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 74,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22943701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreaming_Writer/pseuds/Dreaming_Writer
Summary: This day was not going as you had planned.It probably was not going as planned for these travellers you had started to follow around either, because there was no way you would stay somewhere full to the brim with monsters alone and unprotected - dream or no dream. And well, some company is better than none.Even when they only communicate in "Hya"s.Or:A modern day person unexpectedly finds themselves thrown into Hyrule, where they run into the Links.
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe), Reader & The boys
Series: Legend of Zelda Posts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1653892
Comments: 887
Kudos: 744





	1. The one where you get dimensionally misplaced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This probably one of the most crazy ideas I ever had, but I really wanted to share it.  
> If someone has anything they'd like to read, I'd gladly take inspiration from that. Because I only have the first few chapters planned out and if you have anything you'd like to happen, I'd love to hear it.  
> But especially I'd like to hear what you think about this trainwreck - and if I even should continue it.  
> But for now sit back, relax and watch the fireworks.  
> Edit: 22.6.20 This chapter is now betaed by the amazing Bbobb25. Thanks a lot for that!^^

A horrible headache like you had bumped your head against a wall a few too many times was not one of the most pleasant things to wake up to. It wasn't the worst thing, mind you, you’d had worse, but still, it wasn’t too pleasant .

Waking up in a grassy field in the middle of nowhere was new, though. This was… not good.

The last thing you could remember was riding the bus on the way to your university, going over your notes one last time so you would be prepared for the examination you had today.

So how had you gone from there to wherever this grassy field was?

You wracked your brain for answers, but could find none. That was - to put it mildly - concerning, but not the worst thing you could have gone through. After all, you were at least the middle of nowhere instead of, say, a hostage situation. Points for creativity for your kidnapper though, as you could only assume given of your unawareness of how you found yourself in your current situation.

Taking your current situation into consideration, you were actually very surprised that you still had your bag with you. Within it you found your folder, notebook, pencil case, some food you had packed as a snack, a water bottle, some things you had bought for your parents and forgotten to unpack and most surprisingly your phone. It even had about 50% charge still, which made your kidnapping theory sound less valid.

Which made the matter of how you came here more pressing.

Checking time and date, you found that barely five minutes had passed. Which was just odd, to be honest. How had you gotten here (wherever here was) from the bus in just five minutes?

And to make matters worse, you had no signal. No internet, nothing.

And that was when you realized this must be a nightmare.

After coming to this enlightening conclusion, you decided that you must have fallen asleep on the bus. That was not good at all and you really hoped you would wake up before you missed your bus stop.

On the other hand, you were simply amazed by the details of your dream. You could touch everything here, pluck up random flowers and smell them, and hear the grass and stones and sticks beneath your trainers. You could even randomly stray off the path if you wanted.

It was honestly intimidating how real this dream was.

Even the group of menacing gigantic pig-like monsters with their threatening clubs looked crazily realistic down the smallest details. Oh, and they were coming straight at you.

Dream or no dream, you did what every sane person would do in your situation: make a tactical retreat.

You jogged in a normal tempo until you threw a look over your shoulder and realized the monsters were a lot closer than they were before. The tiny, rational part of your mind said: _“They're chasing you, duh.”_

And that was when your jog turned into a sprint, because dream or not you did not want to make a meet and greet with these beings.

And so you ran and the monsters chased you and that tiny voice pointed out that the aches in your side seemed awfully realistic. You shoved it rudely aside.

You're panting by the time you saw a group of travelers in front of you. They're dressed a bit too medieval for your tastes, but hey, at least they have weapons (no guns from what you can see, which is a pity, because it would be a lot better if they were able to head-shot your followers).

So being the damsel in distress you currently were, you screamed “HEEEEELLLLLP!” as theatrically as you could before rushing past all nine of them.

Oh dear, there were even little kids with them. Hopefully they would be as safe as you were while hiding behind a boulder.

Then you heard a cry of alarm, followed by fighting, screaming, and then, suddenly, silence. And heavy steps coming closer.

That's when you realized with cold dread that these monsters probably made mincemeat out of these poor strangers.

Alright fine, you got it. You were going to have to defend yourself with what little you learned in that self-defense course you once visited. That was suboptimal but you refused to go down without a fight. And so you readied your fists.

And then one of the beings came around the boulder and you punched it as hard as you could, only to meet human skin. Oops.

The man that you had hit glared at you, a nice shiner the same color as his scarf already forming.

“Sorry” you said, sheepishly grinning.

The other guys followed the first one as one of them, clad in red with a bit of (is that pink? Interesting choice, man, respect) pink in his hair snickered at his companions misfortune.

The tallest of the otherwise small traveling group approached you, a slight scowl on his scarred face. When you saw his face tattoos, you whistled in appreciation, ignoring the tense mood around you: “Wow, man, where did you get these tattoos? They look really cool! You gotta tell me where you got them!”

He blinked with his single left eye (his other one being scarred and closed) and gave out a surprised: “Hyaa?”

“Hi to you too,” you said, grinning as you held out your hand for a greeting. “Nice to meet you, sorry for the mess. I did not expect to run into these monsters and I really didn’t plan to bring them to you. Thanks, by the way. Do you know where I can find the nearest bus stop? I kinda have an important appointment I have to get to. Like, right now.”

Leader guy turned back to his companions and you realized, oh my, they have elf ears. _That's nice, dream, give me some cute elves to cuddle._

Funnily enough, they kind of reminded you of some characters of your favorite video game series. You might have sworn off of anything causing you to ‘waste time’ years ago so you could study your dream subject and get top marks in it, but these beloved videogames would always have a special place in your heart (especially since the selling of said game collection and consoles resulted in a nice boost of your study fund). Your dream must have gotten its inspiration from these fond memories, who would have guessed.

But you were even more surprised when they started talking. “Hya, hyyyaa ah hy hya” Leader guy said, and when his companions answered in kind, you realized that you were screwed. Because you found a very hindering language barrier.

_Good going, brain. Thanks a lot for complicating my dream a thousand times._


	2. The one where they give you a flattering name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After meeting a strange kid (that enforced their staying around) Time ponders upon what will happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your positive feedback practically blew me away and motivated me to write the second chapter. Hope you enjoy it and happy leap year!

This day was not going as planned. Actually if one were to be honest, the last few months were not going as planned. Starting with running into different incarnations of the hero's spirit through interdimensional travel due to plotting of Dark Link instead of the peaceful life he had at Lon Lon Ranch with his beloved wife, Malon. But Link – or as he had been renamed Time due to sheer inconvenience of having nine different hylians running around all wearing the same name – could not get himself to regret any of the precious time he had spent with the other heroes, for they had become a big family (and he got to meet one of his descendants long before he even had his first child, which was a bonus).

What brought him to the current day. They had switched to Wild’s Hyrule just the day before (which was a bit inconvenient – with the portals they could at least choose when to change worlds and it was not good at all that they still switched worlds randomly on top of that – it usually messed them up a little) and had just eaten breakfast and packed up when a young hylian ran through their camp screaming hysterically on top of their lungs. Even more inconvenient were the horde of Bokoblins chasing the…well, he absolutely could not tell the probably teenager’s age. 

And due to a very inconvenient language barrier they knew literally nothing about the kid. Could not even properly assume their gender, lest they were wrong and that would be…not good. This was something Time had learned thanks to his Zelda and it was a lesson he would probably never forget.

It was not that they hadn’t tried to communicate with the person. They had tried talking in over ten different languages and about 20 different dialects, even tried to use sign and the only thing that they succeed in was that the stranger babbled on in three different kinds of babble. Which was frustrating, really. Because not even the language option on Wild’s Shiekah Slate could recognize the teenager’s talk. If it even was talk, which Time slowly started to doubt. 

On top of all of this the kid had not left after they had defeated the bokoblins for them. Like a cat that would just take one look at someone and say: “Yep, you’re my servant now, I’m gonna keep you” the kid persistently stuck around. 

Not that they had tried to get rid of them purposefully, not at all (okay, Warriors maybe a little, but the kid punched him after all), it was simply too dangerous for a person who didn’t know how to fight monsters (because unarmed hylians the kid could fight just fine) to stick around them. They might or might not have paid one of the hostel owners in the nearest town to keep an eye on the kid and to keep them there until someone who knew the kid would come to get them. 

Wasted money, it turns out. The kid was too stubborn to stay away and instead of staying in the relative safety of the town they had taken to following them. Which was not good, because first of, the kid was a danger to themselves (not even knowing the most basic dangers Wild’s Hyrule offered and toddling in front of the gaping maw of dead more times than anyone wanted to count) and second, they could also be a danger to them, if Wild's stories about travelers were to be believed. Which was not good at all.

They had taken a break on midday their travels to the colder regions, where they had heard in the town that a portal had shown up, to rest and eat lunch.

And so while Wild was cooking, Legend and Hyrule had left to scout out their environment – Wolfie with them, Sky was sleeping and Warriors sat there, watching and glaring at the kid. The kid meanwhile ignored him and was theatrically babbling and gesturing to Wind, who was either a very good actor or truly interested in what the stranger had to say, even though he could – just like the rest of them – not understand a word the kid said. Then they suddenly brushed in one of their hand motions against one of their long and slender ears. 

Instantly the kid shut up, eyes as wide as saucers. Then they slowly touched their ears up and down, while wordlessly opening their mouth and doing a pretty great impression of a fish. 

Four, who was sitting next to Time and also watching the interaction of Wind and the kid, jutted down a quick note in the journal he currently used to note everything about their newest companion, a violet glint in his eyes. 

Seeing Time's eyes upon him, he explained: “I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with them, because there is something entirely alien about them. My current running theory is that they were an animal turned hylian. Their reaction when realizing their ear shape adds to that theory. That or they are simply some other race turned hylian or simply amnesiac, even worse than Wild had been.”

“I don't think they used to be an animal, they would have had least most basic survival instinct, amnesia or the other race is more likely. Add sudden age up to the list, maybe they used to be a toddler” Time added, nodding. “Good work, keep it up.”

The unresponsiveness of the kid meanwhile seemed to have worried Wind, because he was waving a hand in front of the stranger's eyes and they had yet to even blink. Searching for help, their youngest member looked at Time: “Time, what should I do? Babble is not responding!”

“Babble?!” Four sputtered out, eyes a mix between red, blue and violet. “I had not meant that name seriously when I suggested it.” Wind frowned at that: “Well, they need a name. After all they are going to stick around. I cannot see them leaving after what they did in the hostel.” 

The hostel incident, as it had been named, was when they tried to leave the kid behind. The well-meaning owner had held the kid so they could leave – the kid had, upon being unable to get loose started babbling on top of their lungs which really was not a pleasant experience, especially because it sounded like they were scolding the Links. And upon still not being let go they had started to fight the poor hostel owner until they let go. It was not a good incident. They all had been banned from this hostel for a lifetime.

Time repressed an involuntary shudder.

“Alright, Babble it is” he finally agreed at Wind's pleading puppy dog look. Four seemed to be caught between joy, horror and pity at that, eyes a multicolored mess. Inwardly Time wondered why that was, but seeing as the changing eye-colors did not seem to bother their smallest hero as he hadn't mentioned it, it was probably nothing to worry about.

Babble meanwhile blinked and found themself back into reality. Sheepishly shrugging to the worried questions of Wind the kid simply continued the story they had been telling until Wild called that lunch was ready.

Well, that was good. Time was slowly getting a little hungry, though he would rather eat a poe then admit it out loud. And Babble seemed happy about that, too, having understood that there would be food despite not understanding a word said.

And after lunch they would have to continue their journey to find the portal. They had to figure out what exactly Dark Link was planning and how to stop it – kid or no kid. They would surely figure out a way of how to babysit them while still continuing their quest.

And goddesses, poor Babble, guess that's what they would be called from now on because that name already stuck. He was sure the kid would either laugh or try to kill them all once they found it out.


	3. The one where you offer bananas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miscommunication sucks. Hilarity follows.

So maybe, looking back on it you overreacted back in the probably hostel a little bit, but the group had tried to leave you behind. And from what you had seen the chances of your survival in this weird dream world were if you stuck with the travelers. So that's what you willfully enforced. Maybe, you were not sure, they would be a little sour about that, but they would get over it. You were sure of that, at least.

Especially because they invited you for lunch. That was really nice of them.

 _But_ , you inwardly reasoned, _you did look like you could be one of them right now_. You had felt the change of the shape of your ears and despite being weirded out about that tiny detail of your dream, you decided to ignore it for now.

They pulled you into their friendly little circle and handed you a spoon and a bowl filled with soup which their cook had prepared for them. The cook, a person with long blonde hair and fair scars on the side of the face wearing a blue shirt whose gender you could not clearly tell for they could be both in your opinion (which by the way counted for the smallest and by far most colorful member of their group, too – the others were clearly all male, but for these two you really couldn’t tell and you knew someone who would kill you if they ever learned that you misgendered someone accident or not), seemed pretty good from what you had seen in the other’s reactions, though you couldn’t help but wonder about how hygienic your current situation was…

Anyway, it didn’t matter much since this was a dream and so you shrugged to yourself, told yourself you only live once after all and then you took a mighty spoon of soup.

There was your proof that this was only a dream, for the taste of the soup alone was one.

You practically inhaled it in one big swoop.

Giving Cook your best puppy eyes you held out your bowl for a second swoop. Cook just blinked at you, while the rest of the party burst into loud laugher. Wolfshide, who was an edgy looking guy wearing a wolf’s hide, said something to Cook, which was probably teasing and Cook stammers something back, before quickly refilling your soup bowl which you emptied just as fast under the amused glances of the other travelers.

The second bowl was as much heaven as the first.

Once the big soup pot was empty and the stomachs of the group and yours were filled, you desperately searched through your backpack in hope of finding something to share with the strangers in hope of repaying their kindness. And lo and behold, your lucky stars shone bright upon you this day: In the things you had bought for your parents yesterday you found exactly ten beautiful and brightly yellow bananas.

Mentally you momentarily tried to remember why exactly your parents wanted that many bananas again, but then you gave yourself a mentally shrug and decided not to question this happy event.

You had something to share with your companions after all!

Grinning you pulled the bananas out and offered them to the group.

For a moment, there was shocked silence. _Ha,_ you thought, _that surprises you, doesn’t it? I have something nice to give you, too!_

Then Cook makes a strangled sound, and suddenly everyone tensed, watching your every move, some reach for probably hidden weapons on them.

…okay…?

That was not good, probably. _What did you do wrong this time? Maybe it was a social faux pas to offer others bananas in this land? Gosh, you hoped you hadn’t mortally offended them. What if they’re now after your blood, because you insulted them that bad?_

_No, wait, scratch that. Think brain, think._

_We’re in a hostile environment if measuring by the monsters. They’re probably simply paranoid that you’ve poisoned the bananas. That’s it. Show them, the bananas are to be trusted._

Taking a deep breath to steady yourself you slowly move, not daring to make eye contact in case they saw it as a hostile action and slowly and carefully broke one banana out of the lot. Out of the edge of your eyes you can see Cook twitch at the sound.

Then you start skinning the banana as carefully and slowly as you can, before slowly biting a piece of, chewed it demonstrating thoroughly and swallowed extra loud.

A beat of silence passed in which you carefully kept your head down.

Then suddenly Scar (Leaderguy) threw his head back and laughs loudly, everyone but Cook quickly joined in. Cook meanwhile started going red from the tip of his ears down to their shirt and quickly looked away, the teasing comments of their companions probably making the situation only worse.

Babey (the small blue sunshine who listened to you despite not understanding a word) quickly took the first banana out of your bunch und munched it, grinning and teasing and necking, the others quickly followed suit, leaving exactly one banana for Cook, who still hadn’t moved or even stopped blushing. Was it even healthy to blush for such a long time?

You were unsure why their companions reacted the way they did or what was so damn funny about it, but you were going to give your best shot at giving that kindness they all showed despite not understanding you and being total strangers.

Standing up, you grabbed the last banana and carefully made your way over to Cook. Smiling, you cleared your throat to get their attention. Wide blue eyes on still tomato red background caused your smile to widen. And then, still smiling kindly you held the banana out for Cook to take.

For a moment Cook glanced from the offered banana to you, back to the banana, to the group watching the exchange and then back to the offered banana and then, carefully, they took the banana. A slight smile made it upon their lips and then they looked at you and said: “Ha hy.”

It was sincere and real, and it didn’t need a translation. Feeling warm you answered in kind: “You’re welcome.”

And it was in that moment that you, surrounded by all of them knew: Dream or no dream, if all of them were just like that - and from what you had seen so far they were - you would find a way to drag them into your home and make your parents adopt them. They deserved all the love and the hugs in the world and this world was apparently simply too cruel to give it to them.

If you would ever get your hands on the one responsible you would beat the sh*t out of them, legality be damned. Nor the fact that this was just a dream.


	4. The one where they realize you're not from around here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild watches and draws his own conclusions.

After packing up, the group continued their journey, throughout which Wild watched Babble carefully. The person was sweet and spoke with whoever was nearest, even though they definitely knew that they couldn’t understand them.

Most perplexing was that Babble simply did not seem to care. They grinned and babbled on, looked around with those gleaming gigantic innocent eyes that apparently had never seen monsters nor murder.

And Wild wondered how such a sweet person had managed to sprout from the harsh environment that was his Hyrule.

It was then that realization dawned upon him. Babble was not from his Hyrule. And Wild felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice-cold water over him.

Babble was definitely not from his Hyrule, that explained their language and curiosity and unknowledge about the yiga and monsters.

“Twi?” he whispered to his companion. “Yes, cub, what is it?” the hero of twilight inquired. “Babble” Wild whispered. “They’re not from my Hyrule.”

“Yes” his mentor agreed. “I already had a similar thought. I think the others have also picked up upon that little tidbit by now.” “But where are they from then?” Wild asked, curious.

Twilight frowned, thoughtful: “I honestly have no idea. Probably a peacefuller time. Or maybe even a completely new Hyrule none of us know about yet.”

Wild’s eyes widened upon that implication: “You don’t think...?” “It could be, we don’t understand them after all, they could be anyone, even another hero” Twilight muttered.

Wild chewed his lips in thought…that last theory would actually make more sense than he’d like. But why did Babble if they were another incarnation of the hero not have any weapons on them at all? Dread settled into his stomach when he realized that this was probably Babble’s first adventure. The innocence that had been robbed from them all would soon be stripped of Babble as well.

In that moment he knew he could not let that happen, no matter what. Like Twilight was for Wild, Wild would try his best to be the mentor for this new hero. He was sure that once the others came to the same conclusion, they would join right in on his quest to protect the person’s innocence.

Up ahead Babble gave a surprised squeak when they crossed the snowline. They stood there, shivering in their green shirt (a Poloshirt) and light blue trousers (jeans) for a moment, before promptly stumbling back, nearly bowling over Wind, who had stood next to them. Babble’s eyes widened almost comically from where they had landed clumsily on their butt, their feet clad in strange red and white shoes sprawled out beside them.

“What is it, Babble?” Wind asked, stepping closer to the person. “Have you never seen snow before, too?”

Babble was quiet for a moment and simply stared at the snowfall line in front of them. Then they shot to their feet squealing and jumped over the line once more, then back, forth, back, forth….

None of the heroes could hide their smirks at Babble’s excited reaction, all of them already too used to the oddities of Wild’s Hyrule to care much anymore about that special phenomena.

“They’re not from around here, are they?” Hyrule muttered and everyone nodded in unison, the rest hung unsaid between them.

When the excitement died down a little, everyone prepared for the colder temperatures that they soon would have to suffer. They used and shared equipment as best as they could to keep warm and then they continued on their trip to where they had heard the portal was located.

Wild gave a warm cape with a hood to Babble, who silently agreed and quietly babbled something Wild was 99% sure was a “Thank you”. And so he answered in kind: “You’re welcome.”

Babble grinned and nodded but when he offered something spicy so they may keep warmer, Babble shook their head and scrunched up their nose in distaste. Nothing spicy for Babble, Wilds inner chief noted quickly down for future reference.

They traveled quietly and peacefully until suddenly Warriors gave a shout of alarm. When they turned to him they saw snow dripping down the back of his head.

Next to them Babble whistled inconspicuously, only stopping for a second to give a grin and a bad imitation of the glare Warriors had sent them all the time before quickly skipping away.

The glare Warriors gave Babble was legendary and they all became the receiving end of it when Legend, Wind and even Wild himself couldn’t help but snicker.

“Can’t handle a bit of cold?” Legend mocked and received a fist full of snow into his grinning face. What followed was a snowball fight that would be sung about even centuries later.

Sadly their joy wouldn’t last because soon the air was once more cut through with the screams of Babble who apparently had wandered off to avoid the snowball fight. The person rushed through their rows, wildly gesticulating, before quickly ducking into the debatable safety of hiding behind a boulder.

And just then suddenly things got very fast very cold because there were goddesses knows how many ice monsters: Multiple Frost Taluses (goddesses, there were more?! He thought he had slayed them all!) and Ice Wizzrobes.

 _“Sh*t”_ thought Wild and then already most of their group, surprised by the sheer number of enemies, were shock frosted.

 _“Sh*t”_ he thought, when he went to grab some fire arrows out of his sheikah slate, only to realize he had none left. After the fight with the bokoblins, he had forgotten to restock when they were in the village because of the drama Babble had made.

This was not good. Not good at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 15.8.2020: This chapter has now fanart! ^^ Check out the-magic-enchilada's cute little scene, in which they once more drew their interpretation what Babble looks like.  
> The Link is here: https://the-magic-enchilada.tumblr.com/post/626484227498754048/another-fanart-for-little-waterboiler-s-babble


	5. The one where you make a stupid decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While exploring you have a run in with a creepy guy. He sends monsters at you. You run away. Your companions are in trouble. What are you going to do?  
> A stupid decision, that's what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one was took a little longer to write than planned and what I actually wanted in this chapter is going to turn up in the next chapter, but for now, well, here we are.  
> And I finally have a vague idea of how this story is supposed to go! Yeay!  
> Thus finally something called plot appears, if you look reeeaaally close you might see the signs.  
> Well, enjoy!

There are these moments in time where people make stupid decisions in hope of reaching their goals. 

One very nice example was Halloween a few years ago. You and your older brother tried to combat each other in getting the better handmade costume. While six-year-old you had the bright idea to use six rolls of toilet paper to become the best mummy ever, your ten-year-old brother decided that his best choice on becoming an impressively real werewolf was to shave your family's dog and use the fur and a lot of glue for his costume. 

In the end they were both very...good costumes. But the best costume in the end was your mother's. 

She got really pale as if all the blood in her face had been drained away when you both approached her to judge which costume was better. Then her face got really red, like she was imitating a tomato and her eyes got that really dangerous glint she got when she planned something (e.g. serving your father catfood for dinner if he forgot to bring out the trash). It was nothing short of scary and fit with her witch costume scarily perfect.

Needless to say Halloween that year got canceled.

And right then and there while you hid behind a boulder in the most unrealistic real dream you ever experienced you were about to make another stupid decision to get your goal.

But first, let's recap:

While your nice elvish companions had a wild snowball fight (which you started - but Mr. P(r)etty had it coming, hitting him had been an accident, he has zero rights to keep glaring at you), you discretely made yourself scarce.

Anyway, you never were the best in snowball fights because you never were fast enough to form enough snowballs (though your aim was pretty good, if you may say so). So you discretely decided to go exploring. 

Which was pretty dumb in hindsight, but you were freezing through the cloak Cook gave you and had to move. And well, then between the trees there was this creepy guy suddenly right in front of you. He had this stupid red glowing eyes and the rest of him looked like he had just taken a dunk in black paint. And that was not to mention how he appeared out of thin air, right out of the literal shadows, in front of you. 

"And who might you be? I didn't expect someone like you here" he said, his voice mocking and smooth like the oil on which you had managed to slip on a few times when your parent's car had broken down a few years ago. 

And then he grinned and showed sharp stark white teeth that your dentist would kill for to have a look at and answered his own question: "But of all of them, it just had to be you hadn't it? That is quite the coincidence, isn't it? Someone out there must truly love me." 

"What the duck are you talking about?" you finally bring out, irritation overriding surprise. "And who the heck are you? And why can you talk in my language? Shouldn't you join the I-don't-understand train? My dream makes zero sense, no thanks to you." 

"Oh, you're still in denial?" Dark and edgy muttered. "Pity. I'd rather you die in realization that after dying here there won't be a waking up."

"Why would I die? It's only a dream" you countered snappily. "You're not scaring me."

"Well, maybe I don't, but they will" Dark announced, his maniac grin widening: "Happy Nightmares!"

And thus he was gone as he had appeared. And in his place there were a lot of monsters, all of them snow themed. Was that just you or had it gotten colder? 

And was there someone screaming? Oh, okay that one was only you. You promptly stopped screaming, turned on your spot and ran. And then you picked your screaming up to warn your companions. They would understand that you have a problem, probably. 

And while you dashed throw their shocked forms into relative safety behind a boulders you wondered why you felt so save with them. You hadn't doubted their friendliness a second from the beginning. How had that happened?

And why did you keep bringing dangers that were after you to them? Because you think they can deal with it, that's why. But how do you know? How did you know they would help you if you need it? 

And why do you feel like a coward hiding behind a rock while they fight for their and your lives? What if one of them loses their life because of you? Why do you feel so protective of them?

And why do you speculate about all of this when in truth all of this is only a dream? Because it has to be a dream. You're simply not prepared in case this is not a dream.

Glancing out from behind your boulder you saw that a lot of the travelers were shock frosted. Caught in stupidly thick ice. Heaven help, how can somebody survive that?

Color, the little one with the cute hair band whose gender you also couldn't tell, was waving a red staff and sending fire at the monsters, trying to get closer to his frozen companions in hope of thawing them. But even from this far away you could see his small form shaking, be it from the cold or an incoming panic attack. You could understand either. 

Next to them was Cape fighting, the guy who had slept fifty percent of the time you had spend with the travelers, who had shed his cape apparently last minute so he would not end up a popsicle like his other companions.

Last was Cook, who was frantically typing on their fancy tablet. And suddenly a bow and a lot of arrows appeared around them. Huh. But apparently this was not what they wanted to have, because they gave a frustrated noise. 

And then they looked up and saw you watching them. They quickly gave a determined sound and the ultimate "Stay right there" gesture. Sadly, that moment of inattention was enough for a stray shot of ice to knock their tablet right out of their fingers and to shock frost it, too. 

That was probably bad, if only judging by their expression. Then they quickly grabbed all the arrows around them and their bow and made themselves scarce behind a rock in hope of aiming from there, probably. 

Cape meanwhile pulled Color away from another blast, the kid had stopped waving their staff and had instead finally given in into a panic attack.

And that simple moment was when everything changed. It was the moment when you realized that you either had to run for the hills now to at least save your hide and leave the travelers defenseless or that you had step up and do something incredibly stupid to help them as they had helped you. It was just a dream, after all? What would happen if you ran? Nothing of personal consequence for you, at least. You’re going to wake up either way, sooner or later. 

But would you be able to live with your decision if it wasn’t a dream? After all, if you hadn’t wandered off, they wouldn’t be in that situation. 

What was the best answer? What was the right answer? Was there even a good choice to make?

Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes and calmed yourself. Ignored the chaos around you to focus.

 _“This is insane”_ your little voice called common sense whispered. _“I know”_ you answered.

 _“Now would be a good time to wake up”_ Common sense added. _“I know”_ you answered.

 _“You’re not waking up yet”_ Common sense stated. _“I know”_ you answered. 

_“So what are you going to do now?”_ Common sense asked.

Maybe, looking at the messed-up situation around you, you should have done what every other sane person in your situation would have done and run for the hills. But as we have already established, you are not the most sanest at the moment and seeing as you're still a firm inhabitant of the "this is just a dream" denial corner, you decided to make something very brave and/or very stupid.

Searching through your backpack you found within the things you bought for your parents a nice and big can of hairspray. Next you fished out a lighter you had confiscated from a smoking friend in hope of stopping them from smoking. It didn't work and they simply bought themselves a new one and ever since the lighter was stuck forgotten at the bottom of your bag.

Then you stashed your bag away in your safe place, armed with a lighter and the bottle of hairspray and you're ready to do the dumbest thing you ever did:

You're ready to have a go against those stupid ice monsters that had taken out most of your friendly group of elvish travelers in one stupid attack.

With a maniac grin on your face you lighted the lighter and activated the hairspray. Dream logic only strengthened the resulting flamethrower and you cackled gleefully as you approached the monsters to aid Cape and Color under Cook’s disbelieving stare.

This was gonna be a lot of fun…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not try to replicate anything of what I am going to write at home. Don't. I mean it.  
> ...  
> And I might have drawn a cover. If you don't mind bad drawings maybe you'll check it out under: https://little-waterboiler.tumblr.com/image/612292445906059264


	6. The one where you are the hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fight occurs. You are badass.   
> And Google knows best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Panic attacks, Injuries and mentions of injuries and blood, but nothing too graphic.  
> Also I have created a poll and would like you to vote, it is important for later chapters for the character that is the reader: https://strawpoll.com/5f5k867r

You hadn’t really thought this through, had you? Ducking under another frost blast you quickly made your way over to Cape and Color, while ignoring Cook’s frantic cries, which were probably curses and threats for you to stop and get the ducking hell back into safety. They didn’t really expect you to stay out of this after you had brought the monsters here in the first place, did they?

Arriving at where Cape was defending a downed Color, you quickly evaporated with the help of your patchwork flamethrower the threatening enemy. Gesturing for Cape to grab Color and to get the duck out of there, which he - thanks to whoever was currently out there listening - understood, you three made yourself quickly scarce to where Cook had hidden themselves.

Upon arriving the blonde nearly pounced upon you, sounding very agitated. You waved them off and rather took a look at Color. The kid’s face was pale and their wide blue eyes (blue? When the duck did they get blue? You would have bet everything you have that the last time you had seen the kid that their eyes were green) were unseeing, their whole body was shaking.

It was quite obviously a panic attack and neither Cape nor Cook seemed to know what exactly to do. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself you carefully sat down in the soft snow in front of Color. Cape pulled out red juice in a bottle from who knows where, but you waved him off. Seriously? Even if it was the kid’s panic medicine, did he not realize that the kid should not drink that right now? They could choke, damn it. Actually, chances were higher that the kid would choke before the medicine had the possibility to work. Once they had calmed down a little, you could offer it to them then. Helplessly Cape shrugged at your annoyed expression and placed the juice in your reach width and took a few steps back.

Quickly you gave your hairspray and lighter to Cook, so they may defend your little hiding place before sorting through your scrambled thoughts. Having researched for that topic for a school project a few years ago you knew the basics of how to deal with a panic attack:

Point 1: Stay with the person and keep calm.

Point 2: Offer medicine if the person usually takes it during an attack.

Point 3: Don't make assumptions about what the person needs. Ask.

Point 4: Speak to the person in short, simple sentences. Be predictable. ...

Point 5: Help slow the person's breathing by breathing with him or her or by counting slowly to 10.

Points two to four were pretty difficult thanks to the language barrier right now (plus getting the kid to breathe normally preferably before giving the medicine had priority). So point one and five would have to do.

Facing Color, you started inhaling and exhaling, slowly and loudly, before carefully starting the recommended counting. “One” you said. “Two.” And thus you continued, ignoring everything around you. By hitting ten you repeated, ignoring the horrified calls of Cape and Cook, who were struggling with the still incoming monsters.

Repeating yourself calmly you carefully put your hands on the kid’s shoulder, so they may feel that they’re somewhere (somewhat) safe with someone taking care of them. The kid shuddered beneath your touch; their shivering slightly disrupted through the motion. Thinking quick you put the cloak Cook gave you around them, the frigid air against your bare arms instantly making you regret not having taken a jacket with you that sunny morning that now seemed so far away though it had only been this morning.

But your sacrifice seemed to do wonders, as did your touch and repeated counting, the empty blue was slowly filled with life, and as strangely as it sounds, there was even some red slowly creeping into the kid’s iris. It was, admittingly a bit freaky to watch, but in this strange dream you had long since decided to take everything in stride.

So taking this as a sign that the kid was calming down you continued your counting and watched fascinated as slowly the blue disappeared and red and violet took it’s place. And then, just as sudden as the kid’s eye color had changed, Color started mumbling your numbers with you. They sounded like a toddler who just had all their teeth knocked out of their mouth, but it clearly was an attempt to count with you. “One” you said. “Two, Three, Four, Five” you continued together, the kid’s shaking finally subsiding and their breathing normalizing.

You did it! You managed to calm the kid down with nothing but what google spat first thing at you, congratulations.

“You okay?” you asked and the kid straightened and nodded, now their violet-green eyes were filled with determination, the message of your question translingual.

And that was the moment when your hiding place got overrun with monsters.

And suddenly there was cold, so much cold…

And warmth, warm, fire, hot…HOT!

Opening your eyes, you realized that the little Color had build a firewall around you all, a slight grin on their face, but their reddish green eyes were hard. Cook whooped, pressed your lighter and hairspray back into your hands and grabbed their bow and arrows, lightening one of them on the firewall. Cape readied his sword.

And then all four of you broke through the hordes of snow monsters, fighting and melting whatever was in your way.

Cook melted his Tablet first thing and pulled out a few more weapons, one of them, a short sword, they handed you.

And once you and Color managed to unfreeze the other travelers (who were surprisingly fit and ready for battle for someone who just got shock frosted) the rest of the fight was child’s play.

Your personal highlight was when you decided to say “duck you” to your common sense and used your dream logic to climb on a boulder and jump from there on one of these huge ice monster’s back, after it had been thawed thanks to your hairspray. It was very satisfying to hammer with the sword into it’s back while chanting: “That’s for ruining my day!”

Less cool was when the sword’s blade decided to shatter in your hands, getting its shards all over you on the way. Rude. But being the flexible person you were, you simply turned the broken sword around and used its hilt as a hammer until the monster you still sat on disappeared beneath you in purple smoke.

And then, after everything was said and done and the battle was finally over, your companions started to patch themselves together. You let them and started jogging up and down because the adrenaline in your veins made it currently impossible for you to sit still. Because, what a fight! You never felt as alive! Too bad it was only a dream as the non-present pain on your bloodied, burned, frostbitten arms and hands showed. Meh, didn’t mean you didn’t want to continue dreaming.

Cook meanwhile seemed to have noticed your absence and quickly came over to you, only to start fretting over the wounds you carried. “I’m fine” you said, shrugging.

Cook was definitely not impressed and quickly dragged over the only brunette in the group. Said friend’s eyes seemed to want to pop out of his heat, before he quickly raised his hands and they started to glow and sparkle, while moving over your arms.

Huh, guess that’s what you were going to call him from now on: Sparkle.

And that was the moment when suddenly the pain hit you like a full out freight train as your fried pain receptors came back online and the adrenaline ebbed away.

Pain meant…this was not a dream.

As soon as Sparkle stepped away looking satisfied, Cook stepped forward to force a bottle of red juice down your throat (which tasted like old socks – no you do not want to remember why you knew that it tasted that way). You let them, now utterly numb.

Because, heaven help, you’re ducked.

This is not a dream. You currently are dimensionally - and probably also timely if their weapons and culture are any indication – misplaced.

Which means you’ve now surely missed your important exam, if fate does not have mercy with you and gives you a Narnia exit out of this situation.

Well, duck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I have created a poll and would like you to vote, it is important for later chapters for the character that is the reader: https://strawpoll.com/5f5k867r  
> So don't forget to vote!  
> (PS: I'll try to involve you more in the future so you may be able to influence things more, so be ready for more polls to come!)


	7. The one where you learn the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where you learn the truth. Also language lessons, realizations and interdimensional travel.  
> And freak outs, lots of freak outs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, a big thank you to the 39 people who took the time to vote. The outcome was with 71,79% pretty one-sided, but will definitely be noted down.  
> Second, if you like my story you might want to check out the spin-off I wrote. It's called "Royalty" and deals with the what-if if the Reader was a cat.  
> Lastly, this chapter took a bit longer than usual, cause it is a monster of a chapter. I debated cutting it in half, but I just couldn't find the right point, so here we are.  
> Enjoy!

The next hour or so was a bit of a blur. If anyone would ask you to recount details you wouldn't be able to do so. You remembered taking your bag from its hiding place and putting the lighter and can back where you got them from and someone taking your hand and guiding you while you desperately tried to sort through your scrambled thoughts, but that's it. Otherwise you were utterly numb to everything else.

The world came back into focus when the Travelers paused in front of a gigantic black something...maybe portal or a hole? Either way, it was utterly intimidating.

Blinking yourself out of your stupor you realized that it was Babey who was holding your right hand and Cook who was guiding you by your left shoulder.

Well, guess now you know how you got there without tripping over something and thus breaking your neck.

Seeing your eyes upon him, Babey gave a wide grin and said something, grinning. You had no idea what he wanted, your mind was still too blown to reboot itself. Seeing that you didn't answer, the kid frowned and said something to Cook, whose eyes narrowed, and they quickly whipped out another red sock juice, which they promptly held under your nose.

Grimacing you pushed the bottle away, shaking your head, inwardly chanting to your brain to function. _Brain.exe has stopped working, please wait for an answer so it may be able to reboot_ , came the answer back. You frowned and instead focused on the moment.

The travelers meanwhile started grouping into two people groups. Pink and Sparkle made one, Mr. P(r)tty and Scar made another, a quiet Color grouped with an exhausted looking Cape, who had gotten his cape back, made a third. Wolfshide came over to where you three were and asked Cook something but the currently in motherhen mode person shook their head vehemently. Wolfshide then turned to Babey who also vehemently refused whatever Wolfshide asked of him.

Then Babey turned to Cook and said something to them, only for Cook to answer just as annoyed. This arguing match quickly escalated until Scar made his way over to you and ended the by now screaming match. Your ringing ears where thankful for that even though your fried braincells couldn't really understand what all this was about.

In the end Cook was given to Wolfshide and Babey looked incredibly smug until he too, was resorted and put with Sparkle, leaving Pink to group with you. None looked really happy about it and Pink was looking you up and down as if sizing you up. Maybe he was, but because your brain was currently offline you couldn't care any less.

Then the first group entered the black something and was gone.

_Brain.exe has restarted. Rebooting process 0%._

_"Uhh...you're not going in there are you? This is all real so you could seriously get lost or harmed or die if you enter this thing"_ common sense whispered.

The second group entered and also vanished from existence. Pink tapped his foot and had the gall to look impatient.

 _"Apparently I am"_ you answered your tiny voice. _"Have you lost your mind?!"_ screeched common sense at that.

The third group disappeared. Pink looked at you scowling, and offered an arm to hold onto for when it was your turn, which apparently was now.

 _"Apparently, yes"_ you said. Because these travelers would know best, right?

And so you took Pink's offered arm and with a few too quick steps you were inside the black something.

"Idiot" huffed common sense.

And then you were falling through a rainbow of dark colors as reality stretched and bend around you and the only reason you knew you were still there was by the firm grip you had on Pink's arm.

And as you moved in milliseconds through time and space you felt as if you had the whole universe at your fingertips. It was scary and powerful and scary and crazy and scary and incredible and the most scary thing you ever did. In those stolen milliseconds you could feel everything that was and ever will be. You heard whispered voices of the past and the present and the future.

Pink didn't seem to notice, it was as if time for him was stopped.

Looking curiously around, you caught green eyes and moving figures. And voices, oh the voices.

_A woman hummed a soft lullaby in a language you didn't know._

_A lost land mourned its loss of its only hope._

_And people screamed as a black hole ate away at reality and swallowed half the bus in a rainbow of dark colors._

And then you were free.

Your knees gave in as you let go of Pink's arm before crawling away. Behind you reality spat out the last duo and Pink was shaking his arm to get circulation back into it while you spat out your lunch which wasn't at all tasty anymore. Someone patted you on your back and offered a medival water bottle, you didn't take it and instead took out your own. The sparkling water clothed in familiar plastic hit your tongue and washed the horrible taste and the strange things you had seen away, leaving you only to shudder and to shake as your stomach continued to recoil at the interdimensional travel you just had forced it through.

You were shaking and someone helped you up. Your legs were stiff and your body felt so heavy. Someone dragged you away from one of the evil reality swallowing holes that had kidnapped you from your own dimension right out of the ducking bus.

_Brain.exe is rebooted 100%._

You were in a godforsaken another universe for heaven's sake! You got dimensionally kidnapped right out of a ducking bus!

What about the other passengers? There was a mother with her little kid in a baggy, there was a old man missing a leg with a prosthesis. There were other university students! What about them? Where were they now? Were they spat out somewhere, too?

Gosh, this was utterly messed up. You were honestly ducked. Did you even have a way back home? Or were you now forever here (wherever here was)? Damned to travel with the travelers through time and space for the rest of forever until they got so sick of you that they simply left you behind?

Was this your life now? The rest of your existence? Would you never see your loved ones again, never get home again? Never get that study finished for which you had sacrificed so much?

Oh god, oh god, oh god…

Warmth.

You looked up and saw Color looking at you, kneeling in front of your curled-up form, having replaced Cook's cloak, which you had given them, around you. They smiled when they saw your eyes on them and then they slowly raised a hand, their fingers showing that they were counting to ten: "A, Aa, Aaa, Ah, H, Ha, Haa, Haaa, Ay, Y." And then they started from the beginning.

You blinked at that and slowly realization dawned upon you. And then you quickly tried to recreate the sounds Color made.

Seated on a log near the fire (and when had the travelers made a camp?) was Pink who snorted at the clumsy sounds you made. Color glared at him, before turning to you, multicolored orbs worried. Then they carefully asked as violet overtook most of their eye: "Ya ayay?"

It was, quite obviously a clumsy recreation of what you had asked them earlier. But you understood anyway.

"Yes" you said, because in the moment you were somewhat okay. You might need a night or two (or a few weeks or months or so) to accept this new reality that was your life, but with a good tea or two (or for the first time in your life you wouldn't mind a beer or ten, or maybe a bit of that whiskey that your brother swears on) you were going to be okay for now.

Color seemed to be accepting of that. You glanced away and saw Cape curled up sleeping, Cook cooking and the other travelers doing their own stuff. Wolfshide was missing and a gigantic wolf trotted towards you. Breath catching in your throat you stared at the wild animal.

Then suddenly Babey gave a sound of joy and flung himself at the monstrous animal. You watched shocked as the animal quickly waved its tail and gave the child a happy greeting. Babey saw your eyes on him and happily waved before guiding the beast towards you.

Oh god, you were so not ready for that, oh god, oh god, oh god…

"A" said Color, holding a finger up, looking at you expectantly, catching your attention. You blinked stuporous and answered: "One." Color mouthed the word before grinning and nodding.

"Aa" a second finger went up. You simply answered: "Two." Again color mouthed the word and nodded.

The third finger went up: "Aaa." "Three" you said.

Behind you there was suddenly a wall of fur and fluff. Oh my…

Color once more intercepted: "Ane, Tya, Threy." Behind them, Pink snickered. Color threw them a glare and voiced something at which Pink snorted before giving a bored and perfect: "One, Two, Three."

Your mouth uselessly flapped open and Color simply glared at that, before turning back to you. They apparently had decided to ignore their friend, who was apparently ridiculously language talented.

Then they held four fingers up and voiced: "Ah." "Four" you answered.

They frowned and repeated clumsily, you corrected them, unsure what was so important about this one number. And then, finally Color voiced a perfect Four. You nodded and they grinned.

And suddenly, their eyes were fully red, they pointed to themself and announced: "Four."

Huh?

Patiently they repeated, pointing to themself once more, waiting for you to connect the dots.

What did they want? Were they four years old or what?

And when Babey said a sharp "Ah" before continuing his ramblings it clicked.

"Four" you breathed out, a shaking finger pointing at the kid. "Your name is Four."

And the kid named Four gave a bright grin and an excited nod.

Alright who named their kid after a number? But well, you couldn't complain. At you least you now knew their name.

Babey seemed to puff a happy laugh at the realisation that you had learned one of his companion's names and even the friendly fluffy wolf whose hide you had leaned against subconsciously seemed amused. Well, their distraction tactics had worked, you had accepted the gigantic wolfdog's presence. That was okay, as long as it stayed that way and the animal didn't suddenly change its mind and decided to make you its dinner…

Huh, the wolf's hide was pretty fluffy and comfy. Pht, wolf's hide, Wolfshide, what a coincidence. They even shared the same face markings and intelligent blue eyes…

…

 _"Tell me when you're done putting two and two together"_ common sense muttered. You refused to acknowledge it before you had another meltdown.

And while Color's - no Four, the kid was named Four - eyes narrowed in thought as if they could see where your train of thought was going, Babey did not seem to care. Instead he sat down and waved his hands through the air, excited, before pointing to himself. You glanced at him, confused, not understanding what he wanted of you…

Well, actually you guessed he wanted you to know his name, but you had no idea which word he wanted you to learn.

Babey's expression flickered to annoyance before he puffed up his cheeks and blew air out. Pointing to himself.

"Air?" You asked, unsure.

Babey narrowed his eyes in thought before suddenly grinning. And then the kid pulled a silver thing out of somewhere. This instrument reminded you actually of something you had seen before in videogame you had played a long time ago (it was a game of your favorite game series...you had played the last one three years ago directly after it came out, before completely stopping videogaming).

And then Babey waved his silver stick and a heavy wind nearly blew you over. The kid looked satisfied, even though everything around you was in chaos, his comrades were protesting heavily. And then Babey even had the gall to grin and point to himself.

"Wind" you muttered numbly, eying the stick in the kid's hand. Which didn't just look like an instrument you knew in already mentioned videogame but that apparently had the same function. Glancing around you saw other things on the other travelers that looked uncomfortably familiar.

 _"Two and two is not nine"_ common sense said. _"In this case it is"_ you answered, numbly.

And then you breathed and build a wall of denial, shoving everything off to coincidence. Somewhere videogame producers had to get their ideas from, right? So maybe in one universe there could be coincidal crossing overseas.

Babey - Wind - meanwhile looked excited at you, mouthing the word you gave him over and over into perfection.

And then Four cocked their head in question and pointed at you.

Oh, okay, they wanted to know your name. That you could do.

And so you opened your mouth to say your name, but nothing came out. Narrowing your eyes you repeated, this time only coughing came out. Frustrated and determined you cleared your throat and then spat out your name and…

There was a bubble floating in front of your face.

A ducking bubble like if a kid had blown it there with it's soap bubble toy. Not your name had crossed your lips, but a ducking bubble.

And then Wind went wide eyed and touched it and the bubble popped under his fingers. Four was staring at you, intensely and with narrowed eyes. As was Pink. And the wolf (who was definitely not a human, nope).

And then Cook called for dinner and the problem at hand lay forgotten for now. It was luckily just as good as lunch.

After dinner you had some time for yourself because all travelers had hounded together to discuss something. Probably you, if their sneaking glances were an indication.

So instead you got your phone out and put it on. The familiar background photo of your brother, his girlfriend (now fiancé), your best friend and you from a few years ago greeted you. Well, three years, to be exact. It was shortly before you decided to put everything else aside and only to focus to study. To be entirely honest you missed these calmer times, but you also knew if you wanted to reach your life goals you'd have to make sacrifices, in this case your hobbies.

Well, there were worse things.

Then a grin slowly formed on your face and you opened the camera application on your phone. Once you got home, no one would believe what you had lived through without concrete evidence.

 _"If you ever get home…"_ muttered common sense darkly. _"Quiet"_ you answered.

After sneaking the photo discretely, you played a few rounds of Doodle Jump, slowly but surely getting bored despite the otherwise tense and surreal situation. And it was then that you noticed that despite not having any connection, your phone had received five last messages on What’s App.

Curious you opened the application and saw that it had been your best friend who had managed to get the last words in before your disappearance (and how typical was that from her!).

You have known her for many years, her father had moved with her to your neighborhood around the time your own family had moved there, which had been when you were about two years old.

Shaking your head, you opened the chat and read what she had written:

“Good morning Sleepyhead  😉 !”

Seriously? Again? Just because you insisted on getting the 8 to 10 hours sleep a night the average person needs instead of less like your coffee and videogames addicted friend did, it did not mean that you were a sleepyhead. Tea was a lot healthier than the drug that coffee was, anyway.

“I had to hear from your brother dearest that you had your big test today! How dare you not mentioning that to me? I thought you were still nose-deep in your studies instead of on your way to university.”

Well, excuse me, you wanted to answer to that. Sorry for forgetting to mention that in all the stress that is university.

She had always been luckier than you in that way. Being the only heiress of the big concern her father owned meant that she’d never have to move a finger ever and thus had all the time in the world to give into her videogame addiction, unlike you who had to swear of off them to get the best grades in your studies. It was a bit more boring, but at least it was something you had managed to do all on your own.

“Anyway, I wanted to wish you luck. I know you can do this.”

You don’t need luck, you have learned. But well, apparently you still needed luck getting to university cause so far you hadn’t had luck in that direction.

“If you get full points again we will go to that good restaurant I showed you. My treat.”

Well, thanks a lot. You still didn’t want to go to that overly fancy five-star restaurant, even if she paid. You'd rather eat a fresh pizza. And now that you were currently dimensionally misplaced (cause this was not a dream damn it) you probably had no proper excuse for not taking that examen. Which meant you’ve automatically failed it because no doctor of the world would write you an excuse for getting lost (if only it were that simple…). This really had ruined everything.

Grumpily you sighed and wanted to shut your phone down to save battery when you saw the last message your friend had sent.

Huh, timely it was probably just before you got dimensionally lost. What could your friend have written?

“And I found this AU. It’s utterly amazing. I know technically you aren’t in the Fandom anymore after isolating yourself from anything even remotely interesting for your beloved studies…but still, you gotta check this out. Take it as a celebration for your successful examen”

The pictures she had sent were photos of some tumblr post. Sighing in defeat because you had literally nothing better to do, you clicked on it and read what was written there (two of the names were awfully familiar...), before seeing the drawing of the there described characters.

All nine of them.

And the world turned its head sideways.

Two and two did end up in nine, apparently.

You only realized you had started shaking when your phone threatened to slip out of your hands. You looked up and down and then you only realized that you had stopped breathing because dark spots dotted your vision.

 _“Breath, idiot”_ common sense whispered and in a halfway delirious state you realized that the little voice sounded dangerously like your best friend, who coincidently shared the same name as the title figure of her favorite videogame.

Greedily you took the big gulps of air. This was not good. Not good at all.

This couldn’t be real.

…

Oh my, this is real.

This was definitely too much for one day.

With your last threads of consciousness you shut your phone down before falling into the waiting arms of unconsciousness. Hopefully the headache you’ll wake up with tomorrow morning won’t be too bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, if you like this story you might want to check out "Royalty"!


	8. Interlude 1 - The one where they worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in our universe...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is that? An update directly on the next day?  
> Yes, it is!  
> I had this shorty on my Laptop for a few days and finally it's time to put it here. Hope you enjoy!  
> Your positive feedback for the last chapter practically blew me away!

Standing in front of a from police cut off area stood a lone woman with a microphone in her hands. She was middle aged and well dressed and she spoke about the gigantic black portal that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, swallowing the back half of a bus and causing the disappearance of ten people of different ages.  
She spoke about how scientists frantically tried to figure out what this portal was, where it came from, where it led to and why it appeared.  
The camera’s viewpoint swung to where an armada of flowers and cards laid in front of the forbidden zone. It lingered on the wishes for the people’s safe return.  
Then the view cut back to the studio where they announced the running expert’s theories about the portal’s appearance and the ten people’s disappearance.  
And the wall sized TV went black.  
“That’s it” a blonde young man with clear sky-blue eyes announced, stopping his pacing through the ridiculously huge room to theatrically wave the TV’s remote in front of the two young women’s faces that were seated on the very comfortable and expensive looking couch.  
The slightly older of the two women, a pretty redhead, wearing a simple jeans and T-Shirt with a horse’s head printed on it, frowned: “What do you mean?”  
“I’m going in” the man elaborated.  
The younger woman, a dark blonde with strikingly green eyes, wearing a short but pretty fancy dress, frowned at that: “Uh…You did hear that they just said don’t touch, don’t even get close to it?”  
“I don’t care” the man said, frustrated balling his fists. “This is my little sibling we’re talking about here. I’ll be damned to hell and back if I leave them alone to die out there.”  
“But not by risking your life!” the redhead exclaimed, jumping up from the couch and rushing to the man. “You cannot risk your life, not for this. We don’t even know for sure if they’re really lost inside the portal. Maybe they simply lost their phone and…”  
“It’s been over a day since they went missing, Malin” the man whispered, his eyes softening. “I just…cannot lose them.”  
“Me too, they’re like family to me, too. But you are my fiancé and I cannot bear the thought of losing you. Please, reconsider” Malin now practically begged.  
When his face stayed stoic, the other woman quickly jumped in: “Okay, breath. Both of you. Let’s not do anything rash. We should have a little trust in them. They’re incredibly resourceful and clever after all.”  
“You don’t know that, Zelda” spat the man at that. The now as Zelda identified younger woman glared and stemmed her hands in her hips: “But I know them. I have been friends with them after all ever since we were in our pampers. If anyone can get out of that mess on their own it is them.”  
The man said nothing. Instead, he stormed off, probably to pack his bags for this suicide mission.  
Both women exchanged glances.  
Then Malin said: “I’ll get the chair, you get the ropes.”  
…  
“You can’t do this! You can’t hold me here against my will, that is illegal according to Paragraph…” screamed the man, who was now - thanks to the team tagging of both Zelda and Malin – chained to a chair in Zelda’s fancy living room.  
Malin, who sat next to him on another chair reading a newspaper, looked up, utterly unimpressed: “Actually, yes I can, dear. If you might remember I’ve studied law as much as you did and if you’re about to commit suicide I am allowed to do anything in my power to stop you.”  
“Well, you shouldn’t! That’s the life of my little sibling you’re playing with” he bit out as an answer.  
Zelda, who sat in front of her ridiculously huge TV with a gaming console in her hands, didn’t even look up: “You don’t know that! They could be fine! Have some faith!”  
“I have faith that they’re not coming back on their own! They might as well have been abducted by aliens! And then we’ll never see them again!” the man argued angered.  
“Okay, let’s strike a deal. If they’re not back within the next week, you can go get them. We’ll even help you become a criminal and to cross over” Malin offered, voice placating, hating when she fought with her fiancé.  
“I’ve never heard of anyone surviving a week without food and water” he answered at that.  
The videogame paused on the picture of a green clad youth slaying monsters as Zelda carefully put her controller down.  
“Then how about three days?” she then spoke, coming closer. “The average human can survive without food or water three days under normal conditions. Give them at least that leap of faith.”  
The man caught her eyes, his own hard, before he finally sighed and looked away: “Okay, fine. That’ll make it 46 hours left for them to give us a life sign until I go in, deal. And now get me the duck out of this chair.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little food for thought: What would be the worst/best wake up alarm ringtone to have when in the presence of the Links?


	9. The one where they break more than just your privacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a beautiful morning and the beginning of the second day since the Links picked up their newest companion (or was it the other way around?).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations to FranchRanch for guessing what I'm using as the Waking-Up Alarm ringtone.  
> Also, @everyone your positive feedback made me too happy to formulate into fitting words. Thank you all soooo much.  
> Also, here's the next possibility to vote: This time it's about the main weapon Reader is going to use. Link: https://strawpoll.com/s4rawhr1

The morning sun was bright, and it was able to rise even the heaviest of sleeper, which was if one were to look at Sky and his sleeping behavior no small feat. The Links were slow to start their morning, slowly collecting their stuff while Wild prepared breakfast.

After their little conference in the evening before about their newest tag-along, which had lasted long into the night, it was understandable that most of them were tired. But now, after a full night’s sleep (except for those three with look-out shifts, but even they had gotten more than enough sleep at this point), everyone was ready to get moving directly after breakfast.

The only exception seemed to be once more Babble, who had apparently not gotten the note to wake up yet, and because even the smell of the freshly made breakfast wouldn’t rise them Wild took it upon himself to investigate the cause behind this strange occurrence.

What he saw, when he neared the spot Babble had picked to spent their night – which was a little aside from where the rest of their group had slept, was a Babble that used Wild’s cloak as a blanket and who looked like they had just fallen asleep on the spot randomly, their limbs were spread out randomly and they hung half over a log they had used in the evening as a seating possibility. To sum it up, it looked horribly uncomfortable and Wild inwardly wondered how the kid had managed to fall asleep in that way.

Warriors, who had been watching from where the others had been seated to eat breakfast, had been watching and when he saw that Wild hadn’t yet moved to wake the kid, and he carefully stood up and approached. He then, too, winced when he saw the kid’s position. “Either they’ve got insane flexibility or they’re going to have an absolutely horrible day” he muttered dryly. Wild only nodded wordlessly.

Then Warriors suddenly spotted something lying on the ground next to one of the kid’s hands. Carefully he picked the strange black square up to inspect it. “Hey, look” he said, then showing it to Wild, who’s eyes widened upon seeing the devise. “It looks like that slate of yours.”

Wild pulled out said slate to compare with the other devise. The slate dwarfed the plain black thing in both size and state of ornament.

Face blank, Warriors corrected himself: “Well, at least somewhat. Maybe it is some kind of proto slate?”

“Then why isn’t it working? It’s just…black” Wild wondered. Warriors frowned and took a closer look at Babble’s device. “Here, on the side, there are some buttons” he stated. “Maybe they are for getting this thing to work?”

Wild nodded, thoughtful. Warriors moved to press the buttons, but Wild stopped him: “Are you sure? This is kind of breaking Babble’s privacy. This is not something good.”

“It’s also not good to hit people” Warriors argued against his friend, shrugging. And then he pressed one of the buttons…

…and nearly dropped the device when it suddenly vibrated and gave a happy little melody while lighting up, showing a little green figure.

“Careful, it seems fragile” Wild warned. Warriors gave him an unimpressed look: “Then you shouldn’t even dream about touching it.”

And then the little green figure disappeared, and a picture popped up, showing four happily grinning persons. One was a slightly familiar looking young man with clear sky-blue eyes and messy blonde hair wearing a simple white shirt with light blue accents. He had his left arm around a redheaded woman with golden-brown eyes, wearing a purple shirt with a horse printed on it. On the right side of the picture was another young woman, she had darker blonde long hair, a golden hairband on her head and blue and pink outfit. Her emerald colored eyes seemed to lock right into the boy’s faces as if she knew that they were looking at her and she almost seemed amused by that. The last person, who was placed between the man and the blonde woman, clearly was Babble, though clothed slightly differently than they were now.

But the strangest about the picture was that all of them were human, which with Babble right now was not the case (as a quick look to check proved: Babble was clearly Hylian at the moment).

This only added another mystery to the long list of mysteries that surrounded their newest travel companion and both men knew that surely more would be added.

On top of that neither Link could recognize the letters that were written over the picture, which while not really surprising, seeing as most of their writings had changed over time, was really unhelpful at the moment. Helpless, Wild quickly stood up to get the most traveled of them to take a look. Chances were the highest that he would know the letters.

Legend was the definition of not happy, when he was interrupted in his breakfast. Annoyed he followed Wild, complaining about his eggs going cold.

Then - suddenly - Warriors shoved a strange black, glowing something under his nose. Legend stared cross-eyed at the thing, before quickly snatching it out of his companion’s hands.

“Can you recognize these writings, hoarder?” Warriors asked, slightly put off of Legend’s rude taking of the device.

Scanning the familiar letters, Legend tried to decipher what was written there, before he answered: “Well, I recognize these letters. But read what’s written there I cannot. Guess the language changed again until whenever the kid is from.”

“And we can’t ask Hyrule if he knows what’s written there cause he still can’t read” sighed Warriors. Wild shrugged and Legend took another good look at the screen with the picture on it. His eyes fell upon the small lock placed on the picture. Frowning he watched it move. Then he carefully touched it and swiped it randomly to a side.

Next to him Wild and Warriors “ohhed” as they saw a new picture popping up, accompanied by a block with numbers on it. Legend felt a smirk forming: “Someone got a suggestion for a code?”

But then, before they could break into Babble’s privacy any further, a sign popped up on Babble’s strange slate. Then, the strange devise started vibrating within Legend’s hands and he would have almost dropped it.

“Careful with that” Warriors warned. “I am careful” snapped Legend.

And then suddenly a soft melody started to play from the device.

And a beautiful voice sang a song in the same strange language Babble talked, but Legend knew what she sung nether the less.

The first note played shook Legend to the core. The second had him outwardly shaking. And the third kidnapped his mind to places forever gone.

And while Wild and Warriors listened awed to that beautiful ballad, starting to dream of who could have sung that, Legend, who knew the one whom belonged the original melody, was sent down spiraling into memory lane.

His body was present, but his mind wasn’t.

…

_Dreamlike beaches, endless sea._

_A redheaded girl singing a soft melody._

_A glance, a smile, an euphory,_

_A dream that is now nothing more than a memory._

_…_

And Babble’s device slipped out of his numb fingers.

A loud “Crack” and the music stopped, startling the boys out of their thoughts and back into reality. Legend used that moment to flee.

From whom was unsure, was it from his memories or was it from the owner of the device who had just now awoken and looked at them with blood-shot eyes?

Either way, Wild and Warriors came face to face with a tired, hurting and very angry Babble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm an evil person and how couldn't I use THE waking-up tune in the Zelda series? I tested it, by the way. It's a very nice way to wake up to that soft melody. I can only recommend.  
> Additionally, here's proof that Legend would know our Alphabet: https://www.zeldaspalace.com/images/albw/soluce/0205.png  
> Also, again, here's the next possibility to vote: This time it's about the main weapon Reader is going to use. Link: https://strawpoll.com/s4rawhr1


	10. Bonus 1: The one where I crack (April's Fools)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to missing motivation have here the beginning of the last chapter and the notes for the rest of the story. Thank you all for your understanding, lovely comments and farewell...

Drifting on the line between awareness and deep sleep you were vaguely aware of male voices drifting over your head. They were discussing...something?

Okay, chances were high that this were just your brother and father discussing your brother’s plans for something, which he probably hadn’t thought through, again. Used to these early mornings discussions you sleepily reached for your pillow, only to found it absent.

Huh? Where could it have gone?

Lazily blinking an eye open, you looked at blue sky above you.

Have you been camping? Alright, what had happened yesterday?

Think!

…

Like a freight train it hit you and in that moment your pounding headache greeted you together with the realization that you were utterly ducked. You were in a fictional world, and to add on top of that it was a fanfictional world, an alternate universe world. And while your current situation sounded like a badly written fanfiction (or was it fanfanfiction?), you would have to accept it now as more or less reality.

This suuuucked.

Closing your eye again, because you really were not ready to deal with these implicated complications, you tried to surrender yourself to sleep again.

It didn’t work. Your back hurt, you laid on something utterly hard with your bottom and your legs were could and stuck out from your coat-blanket.

So instead you listened the three males discussing something in their strange language that you were going to have to live with.

One good thing about this horrible situation was that - if this tumblr post was to be trusted – they were all successful Links and thus had more than the ability to keep you safe and sound. And as heroes they wouldn’t just abandon you somewhere, surely.

“ _Except, they already tried”_ common sense muttered. You decided then and there to actively start ignoring it.

And then you suddenly heard something vibrating. Was that your phone? You could have sworn you had turned it off.

Now wide awake you quickly sat up, which caused your back to protest and your head to start spinning. You collected yourself as quickly as you could, while the inevitable already set in.

**…**

**Due to missing motivation, I have to stop here and announce that, sadly this story will end here, forever. Here a small wip for future plans to soothe your minds:**

-you hunt down and kill Wild and Warriors for touching and breaking your phone

-you hunt down and kill anyone who could be a danger to any future phones you have, meaning all the Links (except Wind and Four, those two are too cute to kill, thus you adopt them instead)

-you meet Dark Link and beat him to death with one of your trainers for annoying you

-you time-jump and settle down in a peaceful Hyrule way down the timeline (with your two adopted sons)

-your brother enters the portal searching for you, finds a wasteland, gets attacked by monsters and manages to escape back to our world with a deadly sickness which erases all of humanity on our side of the portal

-eventually just settling down is too boring so the all powerful you, so you decide to conquer the land you settled down and just because you can every other country

-after you managed to unite the whole world, you decided to walk through the sacred realm to wherever the Gods are and beat the shit out of Hylia and the others, because what the duck were they thinking for recruiting child soldiers?

-then you go to wherever Demise is and kill him once, twice and a third time for good measure

-after finishing that, you go back home and live a long, happy and content life with our two adopted sons, knowing that you were the one to finally break time completely (due to making all the heroes die before getting kids, thus erasing complete timelines and making new ones) and ended the curse on the heroes spirit

**The End!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy April Fools, Folks!  
> Hope you liked this, even if it was absolute crack.  
> Hope I didn't frighten you too much with that message. The next real update comes whenever I finish the next chapter.  
> Question: Would you like to keep this "chapter" or should I remove it after posting the real next chapter?


	11. The one where you write a "How to survive" list

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have some time to breath, think and sort your thoughts. And then the next unexpected thing happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to keep the April's Fools chapter, cause I absolutely loved all of your reactions and reviews. You had me grinning like an idiot, do you know that?   
> Also, your votes have been counted. Something other than sword(s) or something magical as the main weapon has been noted. A big thank you to the 37 people who voted.   
> Did I mention I love you all? You are great. I love every single voter, reviewer, bookmarker and kudo-giver. Even only those who silently read are seen and loved (though I must admit the others motivate me more;-)).  
> And I hope everyone remembers the first vote? Yeah, the story that has to do with that starts right here. Welcome to the beginning of the real plot.  
> Strap yourself tight, this is going to be a wild ride.

Drifting on the line between awareness and deep sleep you were vaguely aware of male voices drifting over your head. They were discussing...something?

Okay, chances were high that this were just your brother and father discussing your brother’s plans for something, which he probably hadn’t thought through, again. Used to these early mornings discussions you sleepily reached for your pillow, only to found it absent.

Huh? Where could it have gone?

Lazily blinking an eye open, you looked at blue sky above you.

Have you been camping? Alright, what had happened yesterday?

Think!

…

Like a freight train it hit you and in that moment your pounding headache greeted you together with the realization that you were utterly ducked. You were in a fictional world, and to add on top of that it was a fanfictional world, an alternate universe world. And while your current situation sounded like a badly written fanfiction (or was it fanfanfiction?), you would have to accept it now as more or less reality.

This suuuucked.

Closing your eye again, because you really were not ready to deal with these implicated complications, you tried to surrender yourself to sleep again.

It didn’t work. Your back hurt, you laid on something utterly hard with your bottom and your legs were could and stuck out from your coat-blanket.

So instead you listened the three males discussing something in their strange language that you were going to have to live with.

One good thing about this horrible situation was that - if this tumblr post was to be trusted – they were all successful Links and thus had more than the ability to keep you safe and sound. And as heroes they wouldn’t just abandon you somewhere, surely.

“ _Except, they already tried”_ common sense muttered. You decided then and there to actively start ignoring it.

And then you suddenly heard something vibrating. Was that your phone? You could have sworn you had turned it off.

Now wide awake you quickly sat up, which caused your back to protest and your head to start spinning. You collected yourself as quickly as you could, while the inevitable already set in.

Even though you had long since sworn off of videogaming when the Link’s Awakening remake had come out, your best friend wouldn’t stop talking about it. And still being the nerd you were inside your deepest shell, of course you couldn’t not download the official sung version of Ballad of the Wind Fish, especially after it came out in English. Too many childhood memories clung to that melody to not put it as your alarm for waking up. It had been perfect.

Now it wasn’t. Now it was very inconvenient. Actually, now it was catastrophic.

And you could only sit there, your head spinning, and await the inevitable.

“Sleepers wake, dreams will fade” your phone sung its usual morning greeting to get you up at latest ten o’clock on weekends. Whipping your head around, you barely managed to witness the most horrible thing that could have happened:

It had been the one titled as “Hero of Legend” in the tumblr post that had held your phone, the “Hero of Warriors” and the “Hero of the Wild” placed left and right beside him. And you knew that sadly of all of those that could have held your phone, it had been the one already traumatized by that melody. That was…frustrating.

Even more frustrating was that the fact that your phone had been held was now in the past.

Hero of Legend, or Pink or simply Legend - cause inside your head you were especially in the mornings lazy as duck – had apparently left this plane of existence mentally and thus your expensive, new phone had slipped between his fingers.

You practically jumped sideways, desperate to reach it in time…

“Crack”

Everything paused. Horrified you looked at your phone which had gotten unluckily impaled on a especially sharp stone.

You twitched, thinking about how long you had to save money from what little pocket-money you had to buy this beauty.

You looked up, feeling a vein pulse on your left temple. Two sets of eyes looked scared beyond words at you. The third pair, belonging to the traumatized hero that had dropped your phone, had apparently made themselves scarce.

You twitched. The Links gulped (oh my god, they’re alive video characters, ohmygod,they’realivevideogamecharacters).

You screamed.

…

Stewing in your breakfast, which Cook – or Wild or whatever - had served you before taking off to who knows where (probably to wherever Mr. P(r)etty or Warriors or who-cares-who had fled to escape your wrath), you were silently cursing every curse you knew. Which, given your social media accessing background was a lot of curses.

Chewing whatever that was that you were chewing, it was good and it was real and it didn’t help at all with your current situation, you stared at the black and broken screen that was your phone. Like fine spider webs the cracks went out from the hole in the middle. It was actually beautiful if you were to be in any other situation (meaning if it wasn’t your phone that was showing these cracks hole and cracks). At least your data hadn’t been lost. Everything you had on that phone had been luckily saved on a micro SD card, which had survived the fall with no problems.

Sighing you stuffed the phone into your backpack and instead finished what was left of your breakfast. It had gotten cold and left a bitter taste on your tongue even though it was actually perfect.

Cause this was your reality now, wasn’t it? You were stuck in not any other world, but a fictional, a fanfictional world, with characters you knew from your gameplays and yet didn’t know because their characters had probably changed due to this world being the work of a fanauthor who took a videogame franchise and ran with it.

It was, to be honest, not the worst fictional world to become stuck in, but knowing all the dangers that lurked within the Legend of Zelda game series, you could practically see the chances of your survival dwindle down into single digits before your very eyes.

And so, while the Links - “ _Wow, they’re all Links_!” squealed your inner fangirl which once again suspiciously sounded like your best friend – packed up their camp around you, you sat on a log thinking. And just like they had taught you back when you were in school, you pulled a pen and something to write and quickly prepared to jot down the most important things to ensure your survival.

The notebook, which you fished out of your bag, was new, fancy, ridiculously pretty with its white cover and golden accents, and definitely not yours. Chances were high that your best friend had secretly bought it and stuffed it into your bag when you were not paying attention. Normally you’d force her to take it back cause these fancy things were ridiculously expensive and you didn’t like it when your friend threw her money out of the window just to surprise you. It didn’t matter that she was loaded, this was a question of principle.

But this time this notebook was sadly the only thing you could take to write in beside the folder with your examen notes (and you’d rather die than write on these) so you had no other choice.

Sighing you picked up a pen and opened the notebook on the first page.

In bold letters you wrote: HOW TO SURVIVE

And thus you started your “how to survive” list.

  1. Always stay with at least one Link at any time.
  2. Find a way to contact home.
  3. Find a way to get home.
  4. Get lots of useful items. 
  5. Get proper weapons.
  6. Find a way to get more “hearts” (whatever they are in this reality) without dying or preferably not having to fight boss monsters.
  7. Get the Links under no circumstances to mistrust, dislike or hate you.
  8. Find a way to understand the Links. Communication is key.
  9. Survive (best would be unharmed).
  10. Get home (and get a way to take exam).



Well, this looked promising. As a first list these were very easy steps to follow, hopefully. You’d craft something better out later, especially in a better list of importance order.

Looking up you saw Legend watching you. He had apparently managed to crawl out from wherever he had fled to escape his trauma. You never understood how the kid at the end of Link’s Awakening could smile. He technically had just erased an entire civilization, after all. It had thrown you into a mild identity crisis when you had first finished playing it as a little kid. Your brother hadn’t been as bothered, but well, he never had been bothered when he stole, and they called him THIEF for the rest of the game. You meanwhile had preferred the longer and honest route unlike him.

Probably the actual person that lived through this all was more like you in that way if you were to judge him from just watching. Poor kid. Someone ought to give him a hug.

He definitely deserved it.

Especially considering that he fled to the other side of the camp when he had seen you catching him watching you.

Feeling unlikely creative for the situation you were stuck in you doodled two little stickpersons hugging. It was probably your way to cope with the unreal situation you were in.

Watching the traumatized youth doing something or other to help pack the camp together, you sighed. It was almost ironic: He thought a dream was real and you thought the reality was just a dream. Both of you had hard awakenings and had to somehow find a way to cope. He probably already had found somewhat of a way. You…not really.

Still, he definitely needed hug. To tell the truth, you wanted one, too. Preferably one from your parents, your brother, or your best friend. Or any friend you had from your universe. You wouldn’t be picky.

Underneath your doodle you wrote: Legend should get a hug.

Sighing, you closed the notebook with a clap.

And the only brunette in the group (Hero of Hyrule, the kid from the first two Zelda games, Sparkle, or just Hyrule or who even cares about all those names anymore) suddenly tripped and went flying into Legend, who caught him.

And thus, as you have written, Legend had promptly gotten hugged.


	12. The one where you mess with reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the chapter title says. And freak outs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention I love you all? Cause I love you all, so, so much. Your feedback has blown me away. I literally fell out of bed when I saw how many reviews I had gotten over night. This is utterly amazing.   
> You rock.  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter, everyone.

Your mouth dropped open with shock as you watched the two boys fumble and finally crash into the place where they had put their bags in a tangle of limbs and bagstraps and the others watching amused. Your eyes fell instantly upon the notebook that laid innocently closed in your lap.

This was probably just a coincidence, right?

RIGHT?!

Dread pooling in your stomach you opened the notebook again. And peacefully, almost mockingly stood your written notes out to you, undisturbed.

Breathing a sigh of relief, you almost felt silly, before giddiness started to flood your being. What a coincidence! It almost scared you, to think you would be able to influence anything in this story, how silly of you!

Giggling you wrote: A bus drove down the streets of Hyrule.

Not hearing or seeing anything beside the chaos in front of you, you partly felt foolish, partly bubbly. There, right there, was all the proof you needed to know that you needed more sleep. And definitely find a way to cope with your situation because you were beginning to lose touch with reality to think that foolish.

Warriors had come out from wherever he had hidden, and you watched him stare at the chaos in front of you. Legend and Hyrule had yet to successfully untangle themselves and he just stood there, unblinking to not miss a second and grinning like a fool, enjoying that the others (especially Legend) embarrassing themselves.

You had to admit, that unlike your brother, you had enjoyed his game very much. There was nothing more relaxing than slaying a few thousand monsters a time after a long and hard school day. Though it had been frustrating when his character had run of to do his own thing as soon as you had changed to another character, all for the sake of plot while you feverishly tried to keep the characters together to keep getting magic boosts.

Seeing the real person in front of you now, was even more frustrating. Reality clashed with imagination and it was indescribable. Yeah, okay, maybe you had done a slight mistake when you punched him. And then threw a snowball at him. But well, he kept glaring at you and then he definitely had helped orchestrating the invading of your privacy and resulting breaking of your phone. Because Wild had been too sweet with you to be guilty of orchestrating it and Legend quite obviously was a poor traumatized boy, that left Warriors as the one main guilty to orchestrate what lead to the impaling of your poor, innocent phone. How dare he…

…

Okay, breath. Breath. Calm down.

Let’s put this animosity away. You don’t need it right now. Actually, in order to survive right now anything but bitterness towards what happened would be more helpful.

And your phone was not that important to help you survive here, anyway. In your life home, yes totally, but not here.

So breath, stay calm, think, and don’t antagonize anyone who could and probably will save your butt several times over.

Okay. You’re calm now.

So let’s try this again, a bit more friendly this time.

…

He still hadn’t blinked. “ _This cannot be healthy_ ” common sense uttered.

And they still hadn’t managed to untangle themselves. How did that work, anyway?

Maybe you’re crazy, maybe still sleep deprived. You didn’t know. But you simply opened the innocent notebook again, and giggling, wrote down: Warriors should blink.

You were still giggling, sleep deprived and just the weight of the situation crashing down upon you – because you were still trapped in a time and place so strange and dangerous as it was – when suddenly Warriors yelped. Your eyes shot up from your notebook, and you saw him blinking furiously, fighting tears, wiping away at the poor innocent insect that had found its way into one of his eyes. His misfortune made Legend stop struggling to watch now gleefully how the other had problems, making it possible for Hyrule to finally escape the tangling and thus ending the unconventional and unwanted hug.

And then your mouth dropped open as you watched the two sentences, which had been written by you and somehow happened in reality, got erased from the paper, leaving only the other notes behind.

…

Duck.

…

Oh my God.

…

You closed the book with a clap and pressed your hands against your mouth forcing the upcoming scream down your throat again. This couldn’t be happening. This cannot be happening.

…

Duck, this is happening.

…

“ _Breathe, idiot. And calm down_ ” common sense chided. It had to talk, hadn’t it? You’d like to see it in your situation and not freak out.

Because you had a notebook on your hands that was apparently magical and could influence reality.

Or was that your writing? After all, this was a fanfictional world and as a fan it should be possible for you to influence things if you wrote about it…did that mean you shouldn’t write anymore at all? Oh god, what if you were going to kill someone by accident, cause every time when you wrote something down, it happened by misfortune, like the tripping or an insect flying where it didn’t belong and…

“ _Breathe_ ” common sense said. Okay, you could do that.

“ _Think_ ” common sense said. Okay, you could do that.

Every time something happened you put a name from this world in the sentence. Okay, but then there was the case of the bus on Hyrule’s streets, and you didn’t see a bus yet, so it had to have something to do with the formulation. You wrote in both sentences the word “should”, so that was probably the key to this problem.

Okay, you could do that. Just avoid writing and if not writing, avoid the word “should”. And figure out if this was yours or the notebook’s doing.

Easy. Good and nice to follow, you could do this.

You should be able to do this.

Okay, scratch that and don’t write this down unless your new weird power takes it and twists it into something bad. Just avoid that one word and you’ll probably be fine. Just don’t use it unless it’s death or life situation, and you’ll be fine.

You can do this.

A hand taps your shoulder and you look up, surprised. Four stands in front of you, smiling and gesturing to get up and to follow him.

Guess while you freaked out and experimented with bending reality, the Links had sorted themselves out and got ready to go.

Quickly you stuffed the maybe cursed notebook in your backpack and got up, ready to follow them.

This situation was less than ideal, but you were going to deal with the cards you got the way you got them.

You can do this. Just follow your list and you’ll be fine.

And do not write. Just to be sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theories anyone?


	13. Interlude 2: The one where they shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in the real world big brother tries his best to get everything to survive a suicide mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Easter everyone!  
> Hope that those of you that celebrate it now, have a great day. And those who don't, hopefully still have a great day either way.   
> Here's the next little interlude from the real world. Let's build a stepping stool for the introduction of another important character who'll appear waaayy later. Let's see who can guess who it'll be.  
> Also, onto the next vote: In a later chapter Reader gets a chance to interact with one Link all alone. Who should it be? Vote now on: https://strawpoll.com/a982wbf5

Inside a small alley was a single, smaller pharmacy. The special thing about this one simple little pharmacy was, that next to selling all the normal medicaments one would find inside a normal pharmacy, here they sold other things, too. Imported various strange devises and stuff from various aboriginal tribes, traditional cures and gimmicks from all around the world that promised fame and luck, healing and curses, ranging from strange wooden masks to simple plants and colorful mixtures.

The pharmacy belonged to two old sisters, who were quietly chatting with each other, each manning a counter of the shop, until the door opened, which stopped their talk.

“Hello, Mrs. and Mrs. Dragmire” greeted the blonde young man that entered the small shop. The two old women’s faces lightened up when they saw him approach. “Hello, dearie!” they echoed together. The young man entered quickly and strode up to the sister on the normal counter, where he rattled down a list of all recipe free medicaments that one could possibly need.

The sister frowned in confusion, but didn’t comment upon his choice, instead giving out what he’d asked for. He paid and packed his purchases inside his ridiculously large bag, which was already packed to the brim with what one might need if they were to spent a month inside a jungle, then another one in the Arctic and then one in the Sahara, just to be sure.

The sisters exchanged a questioning look, which quickly turned worried when the young man approached the second counter.

“I need everything healing, luck-bringing and helping-people-find-things that you’ve got” he announced and brought a credit card down on the desk. The women goggled at the card a moment before saying: “That’s Zelda’s, isn’t it? What are you crazy kids doing this time?” “And why isn’t Malin stopping you?” added the first sister. “And why is Zelda joining in this? She should have more common sense than that.”

“Just give me what I ordered” the young man grinded out, posture stiff. The second sister went to get what he had ordered, took the card and then handed the young man his purchases: “I’ve also written you a list where it’s written how each of them are to be used and how the work.”

“Thank you” the young man said.

“Zelda does know what you’re doing, right? Is your sibling in this too?” the first sister questioned. “Zelda knows I’m shopping for everything” the young man said. “She was the one to insist I buy up your stock of more…traditional stuff.”

If they noticed his stocked explanation, the old women didn’t comment on it. They both knew that the young man, being the law student he was, did not have a high opinion of the supernatural.

Trying to salvage the situation, the second sister asked: “Well, anyway, how’s the little one? I haven’t seen them for such a long time!”

The young man’s face darkened, and the sisters knew that this was the wrong question to ask.

“They’re lost. So I’m going to go through the portal to find them” he finally announced, packing his purchases with probably more force than necessary into his bag. The women frowned: “You want to go find them?” “But you couldn’t even find the toilet in our shop!” “Even after we drew a map for you.”

The man stopped, and even with his face turned away from them, the women could see a blush rising up to the tips of his ears. Embarrassed he turned towards them, shrugging and helplessly playing with his fingers while quietly admitting: “…well, I had forgotten to put my contacts in on that day, so to be fair, I couldn’t see anything…”

“And then you want to go to the other side of the portal, to who knows where? Your eyes are going to be infected within days due to dirty contacts and you’re going to be blind within a few weeks. You really think you can survive like that?” the first sister asked, doubt in her voice evident.

“Well, I did plan on taking my glasses” the young man said, getting himself back on track. The second sister frowned with worry while the first crossed her arms. “And you’re going to lose them, or they break and what then? You’ll be utterly screwed” she said, her voice matter of fact.

“Well then, what should I do?” the young man bit out. “This is not a fantasy story, this is cold reality. My little sibling is over there and had to suffer all the dangers for more than 36 hours. I am their older brother, I have to protect them. Who else is going to do so if not me?”

The sisters exchanged a look, before the second quietly said: “The government is working on getting them back. They have an army and scientists.”

“And by the time they actually do something my sibling will be long since dead” the blonde exclaimed, throwing his hands up in despair. “I cannot accept that. You wouldn’t either if it was your grandson out there, wouldn’t you?”

The women paled, their eyes were blown wide and their mouths hung open speechless. The young man winced, knowing that this had been a low blow.

“How’s your grandson, by the way?” the young man asked, trying to calm the tense atmosphere, while closing his bag. “Is he still traveling the world trying to figure out what to do next?”

The two old women exchanged quiet glances: “Actually…he was back, just two days before.” “Had heard about your sibling’s big exam and wanted to wish them luck…” “cause as much as they’re rivals and fighting over the silliest little things, they’re friends.” “And right now he’s missing, too…”

The blonde gasped at the implications, his earlier words hitting his consciousness like bullets: “Do you think, he’s…?”

“We fear” the second twin whispered. The first added: “We really hope he only became a little sidetracked and was not inside that cursed bus.” “But we also already told the police and so for now he’s counted as one of the ten missing ones…”

The young man’s face hardened at that: “I’ll go into the portal in less than 36 hours if I do not get message from my sibling until then. Whatever will be on the other side, I’ll be ready for it. And if your grandson is on the other side, I will find him, too, and get him home to you.”

At this the old women teared up: “You’re too kind…” “…and courageous for your own good, dearie.”

“Anyone would do so if they were in my shoes” the blonde answered, before hefting his bag on his back. The woman smiled wetly and waved as he left their shop. “Wish me luck, Mrs. and Mrs. Dragmire!”

“Good luck, little L” they wished him, their voices lost with the closing of their shop’s door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to vote here: https://strawpoll.com/a982wbf5


	14. The one where they cheer you up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You get the cheering up you deserve and I get to drop the next bombshell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoho, what a race. Both Legend and Four ended up being equaled with ten votes, so now I get to decide who of these two is going to be my sacrifice. You have no idea what you've voted for, have you, kiddos? *evil cackling* Alone time with Babble, but under which circumstances...? We'll see...  
> ...not in this chapter. But I'll probably tell you when, don't worry, you'll be forewarned in my author's note, maybe. But I won't say which one of these two I chose...  
> But for now, enjoy this chapter!

They had been walking the whole morning, journeying through the maze that was Hyrule’s Hyrule. It was less than ideal, but it was fine. Wind would still have preferred travelling by boat. The vast ocean, the salty breeze and the warm, sun on one’s face were incomparable.

Was Wind missing his Hyrule? A lot, to be honest.

Would he let the others know? No way. He already was the youngest of them. They probably wouldn’t take him serious anymore if they knew he was having something as childish as homesickness.

So he swallowed his wishes and dealt. At least his sister kept sending him letters to keep him on top of the situation. It helped a lot if he were to be honest.

And once he got home and Tetra found him he may as well start digging his own grave. That was something to consider, too, if the letters were to be trusted.

Glancing to his side he saw Babble nervously looking around, always making sure to have at least one Link in every direction in front of them.. The bubbly persona from yesterday was gone and left only a twitching anxious mess behind. It was rather concerning and somehow managed to alarm every single big brother instinct that Wind possessed, regardless the fact that Babble obviously was older than him.

Wind would have liked to ask them what the problem was, but sadly there still was the language barrier. It had become pretty infuriating.

And if Wind was to judge, he was obviously not the only one alarmed by the 180 change in Babble’s behavior (a good proof example was the worried glances Wild kept sending Babble).

But not only Babble had changed, but so had Legend. The most experienced of the heroes seemed a little down, a little quieter and kept as far as he physically could away from Babble. It was obvious and Wind knew that everyone else had realized it, too, but wouldn’t try to press on it. They all had their fair share of trauma and if something was brought up, everyone would try to deal with it by themselves or seek help, or if it got too bad the others would indirectly do their best to help, whether the hero in question would like it or not.

But then again, none of them could understand Babble, so it was not like they could ask for help, either. Which wasn’t helpful at all and brought him back to the beginning of his thoughts.

Because if he were to guess it was probably a little homesickness that Babble felt. It had been now over a day since they first met, and it had been quite obvious that Babble was not a person from Wild’s Hyrule. They weren’t one from Hyrule’s Hyrule either, if someone let Wind judge by their scared glances.

So when they made lunch break in a small forest Wind tried to convince Babble to come explore with him. It was a little harder than planned to get them up and going, but when Four joined in, obviously having assessed Babble’s mental situation as needing a distraction either, they finally managed to convince them.

The two of them led Babble away a little from the rest of the group and then stood there, not having thought any further. Babble twitched at every little sound the forest made meanwhile and clutched their bag against them as if it was something holy that needed protection with their life.

Finally Wind got an idea. Quickly pulling out his sword, he cut down some gras. Some action, even if it was something as futile as cutting gras, always seemed to help distract his mind. Also he usually got some rupees out of it.

Just like in this case.

Grinning he turned to the other two and paused. Four had cocked his head aside and smiled fondly and Babble…well, Babble’s eyes were wide as saucers and their mouth was hanging open as they unabashed stared at the two fist sized green rupees that had appeared where Wind had cut gras.

Frowning Wind picked the two near worthless rupees up and offered them to Babble, who paused a moment, before carefully taking one and staring at it from all sides, as if they had never seen rupees before.

Well, maybe they hadn’t.

Four’s eyes were narrowed, and Wind would bet his sword that the smith had come to the same conclusion.

“You can have them” Wind said at Babble’s questioning glance and to underline his statement he gently pried the side of Babble’s backpack open (what a strange mechanism to open and close a bag, but it seemed very clever) and dropped the second rupee inside. Babble stared at the rupee in their hands before making it disappear into the bag, too. A hunger seemed to have awakened in their eyes, one Wind had seen many times in his pirating colleagues’.

“If you want, I can cut some more gras to get you more” Wind said, shrugging. This time Babble didn’t seem to think twice and started feverishly nodding. And so Wind started cutting some gras, his quest to get Babble to think of other things having succeeded.

It was even more effective when Four joined in with the cutting.

Once their little separate space of forest was free of every single patch of gras, the three of them sat down in small circle. Babble’s eyes seemed to glitter while they counted the fist-sized green gems.

“I don’t think they have ever seen rupees before” Four mentioned, smiling and watching Babble’s childish antics. “Makes me wonder what they use as a currency, because everyone uses rupees.”

Wind didn’t need to think hard before he started grinning: “Oh! Probably gold! Do you think they use golden nuggets or coins or maybe some made from real silver?”

“Who knows?” Four muttered. “If their economy is different than ours and they have so much silver and gold that for them it’s near worthless, it might happen.”

Instantly Wind couldn’t help but imagine what that scenario would mean for him. If they came to Babble’s home, then he could easily sell some cheap stuff and then get a lot of gold and silver. And then, once he came back to his Hyrule he could show Tetra his newly found wealth. She’d be so jealous, and he’d win that month’s “Most successful pirate” challenge, even though he wouldn’t have to do much at all. And if he showed her that he was busy he might have a survival chance against her fury once she got his hands on him…

Four nudged Wind’s side softly and got the boy out of his thoughts. Sheepishly the sailor shrugged, but the smaller boy just gave a soft smile and gestured to Babble, who had finally finished counting the green rupees and had contently put them into their bag. They seemed now much calmer than they had been before, which was a win in Wind’s books.

Not wanting to destroy the peaceful situation, Four quietly spoke up: “Do you know where these rupees come from?” Wind shook his head, no he didn’t though he had to admit that he’d wondered a few times.

Four grabbed a stick and started drawing in the earth by their feet. The action also captured Babble’s attention, who looked just as interested as Wind was, though they didn’t understand what this was about.

Four drew a small, bipedal mouse-like creature, that looked ridiculously cute. Babble cooed at the drawing unabashed and Wind had to stop himself from joining in. Four sniggered softly at their reactions, before explaining: “They’re called Minish. They played a huge role on my first adventure. And they are the ones to hide useful things for to find.”

“Can you show me some?” Wind breathed, awed. He really wanted to meet these little creatures.

“They can only seen by children or those still children at heart” Four explained, before drawing a rupee and an arrow pointing at some grass to get the message also across to Babble that the little creature he had drawn was the reason they possessed the sum of money they now had.

Babble smiled - _“Score!”_ thought Wind, for it was the first smile since yesterday, his mission to distract Babble and cheer them up now coming to its completion – and nodded, showing their understanding.

“I have yet to find where they are in this time, but once I do I will ask them if they’d like to meet you. I’m sure they’d love to” Four continued.

“I’d love to talk to them!” Wind burst out, grinning when Babble giggled at his enthusiasm.

“Well, they speak their own language. But I’ll do my best to translate” Four explained, and though Wind was a little disappointed that there wouldn’t be a direct communication with these cool/cute little helpers, this was definitely better than say attempting to communicate with Babble.

Which brought him once more to the question burning inside him, what their actual name was. And why, when they tried to say it did a bubble pop out of their mouth instead?

Maybe Bubble was their actual name? That was something to consider, though unlikely, if the flabbergasted expression of Babble had been any indication.

But who cared about names anyway? Babble was Babble just like he was Wind now, and they were cool in their own strange way. And they belonged to their group now and cause everyone there had a nickname, Babble simply had one, too.

That was okay.

And it was good that at least they were smiling again and not brooding and scared at the slightest shaking of a leave. It made him happy, cause even though he was away rom home he still managed to cheer others up, like he did for Aryll. She’d be proud of him, cause she agreed that no one but the bad guys should be sad and scared.

Speaking of, her next letter should arrive soon…

“Lunch!” called Wild and on cue Wind’s stomach grumbled. Nodding to Babble, the three of them stood up to join the others, where Babble’s now more relaxed posture caused approving glances and nods. At least that was a thing they managed to fix.

Though Legend still refused to be near Babble or even look at them, the situation was a lot better. And Wind just knew that this was a problem that hopefully would be fixed soon enough, too.

And after lunch – which had been as god at always and Wind really wished they’d come to his Hyrule soon so his grandma could teach Wild how to cook her soup – they wanted to continue their journey when suddenly the postman – and how did that guy find them all through time and space was a mystery Wind yearned to solve – arrived carrying Aryll’s letter.

And while Wind greedily read through this little piece of home, the others apparently had a quick chat with the postman. It only caught his attention, when the white-clad guy suddenly exclaimed in outrage: “I do not have a horrible accent!”

Looking up, Wind saw everyone staring dumbfolded between Babble and the postman. And then the guy babbled outraged at Babble and Babble babbled wide-eyed back.

Could the postman talk Babble’s language?

“You can understand them?” Time asked the question that seemed on everyone’s mind in that moment, the others still speechless

“I’d be a bad postman if I didn’t know the languages of the people in the country I deliver letters” the postman snided, crossing his arms annoyed. “Their language is that stupid new one popping up down the timeline here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *evil cackling*


	15. The one where you write a letter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn a little more about everything and finally manage to mark off the first point on your survival list: Find a way to contact home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always. I loved your reactions. I love them so much.   
> Hope you love this chapter. I finally give you a little answers. And probably a lot more questions cause I'm very evil.

Lunch had been neat and thanks to Wind’s and Four’s distraction, you were not only technically suddenly a lot richer than before, cause if those were real gems, holy duck, the cash you’d make selling those at home would bolster your pockets for a while with certainty. And when you regarded how easy you got them here, it was almost laughable. You’d just need to get home and…

Right, no going home yet. You had no idea how to get there.

You had a possibly magical notebook or new superpower that twisted everything you wrote and were still stranded in the middle of nowhere.

With at least fictional figures. Nice ones, mind you, but still…

And the only clue that you had that maybe there was a connection to home was the dark creeper – alias Dark Link. Yeay, that was sooo promising.

Until suddenly, after lunch, just when your mood turned to gloomy again – at least you had managed to stop being paranoid _“Nothing happened when you were with two Links, nothing will happen when you’re with nine Links”_ remember your survival list and you’re fine – a guy wearing a white outfit and a red hat jogged up to your group in the middle of the ducking nowhere.

 _“It’s the postman”_ common sense kindly reminded you.

Okay, still creepy. _“How did he find us all?”_ you wondered as you watched him give a letter to Wind.

 _“Maybe he is like a postowl”_ common sense offered, giving you the mental equivalent of a shrug. You really started to question your sanity at that point, so it didn’t matter: _“Whatever, dork.”_

 _“Harry Potter was nice to watch”_ common sense defended.

 _“It was a better read”_ you answered. _“But you wouldn’t touch a book with more than a hundred pages if it bit you.”_

 _“There were no pictures, sue me”_ common sense answered.

Okay, you were really starting to doubt your mind, cause you were having discussions with yourself in your head by imagining your best friend’s voice to give you survival tips.

You were getting so lonely by not having proper communications with anyone in over twenty-four hours that you were imagining your best friend’s voice and this definitely told tales about your mental stability.

It was not a good outlook at all.

Impassively you watched as a few of the Links made small talk with the postman, who looked like he just wanted to get as fast away as he could to finally continue doing his job.

Yeah, small talk would be nice.

“But you can’t understand me either, right?” you finished your thoughts sarcastically out loud.

The postman paused and turned to you, probably to question the “hya” out of you like the others had done.

 _“Be patient_ ” common sense chided. Gee, thanks.

And then the postman opened his mouth and you nearly dropped with an heart attack cause what came out of his moth sounded like a-three-year-old’s-stuffed-to-the-brim-with-sausages-mouth’s English, but it actually was English: “Actually, yes, I do.”

While your brain crashed at that and needed rebooting – the second time in twenty-four hours that can’t be healthy – your mouth already raced off without the rest of you following it: “You’ve got a horrible accent.”

As expected, the man was outraged at that, but at least he held his tirade in whatever language they talked. _“Hyrulean”_ , common sense replied, apparently working in a separate compartment than the rest of your brain and thus having different on and off times.

 _“Hush, you”_ you commented, rolling your eyes.

The postman turns to you, still angered but now after already venting the worst out, calmer and asked: “You’re one of the lost generation, aren’t you?”

“The what?” you sputter, wide-eyed.

The hero of time, Scar, Time who even cares, questions the postman something and he answers in kind, crossing his arms annoyed. All of them gape at whatever the guy has said, but the ones to react the most are Hyrule and Legend.   
Legend looks like he’s been kicked where the sun doesn’t shine and is about ready to fall over, the blood seems to have drained from his face.

Hyrule goes stiff, looks around where you all stand as if he sees it for the first time, before he looks at you. And then in two quick strides he’s next to you and suddenly you’re hugged. He says something, and suddenly you’re sandwiched in between Wild and him and it feels like they’re parents in court fighting over custody of their only child. Then Wind suddenly jumps in, followed by Four and suddenly you’re in the middle of a screaming match. Hero of Twilight, Wolfshide, Twilight, who-cares-you-don’t, goes to soothe the tides only to be included, too.

You inch away as silently and unseen as you can while now all the others join in, except Legend who still looks under the weather (his eyes are glassy which is never a good sign) and Time who’s having a nice talk with the stressed postman who looks like he just wants to get away as fast as he can. Time reminds you of an overworked dad with too many kids in that moment, that had the foolish hope that the kids will manage to sort themselves out thanks to the older and calmer ones. Just hope his hope is not denied.

“What do you mean with lost generation?” you asked the postman, approaching carefully. He scowled at you for a moment before answering: “Well, easy. Down this timeline, give or take a few hundred years, everything is even worse than it already is. I mean, monsters reign there and only maybe a few hundred humans and hylians have survived, no new hero in sight to save their hides. So what do they do? Ask the goddesses for help. They help, of course. Gift them a way to travel to who-knows-where, leaving their homeland behind. So they started to prepare to leave and everyone learns the most important language on the other side as fast as they can to help integration. The postmans learned, too, but only because people started speaking it everywhere. It’s a postman’s job to know every language of the land they work in, of course.”

“Seriously?” you asked, doubting that something as simple as delivering packages and letters, which at home was no big deal and definitely did not demand to know every single language of a country.

“We take our job very serious” the postman answers. “Why do you think there are so few postmans out there? We have a lot of qualities that need to be filled, we don’t take every idiot that comes flocking to us.” Looking at his tacky outfit, you could imagine why people with or without language qualifications would fight to get his job (mind the sarcasm). Postman turned to Time to explain him, too and Mr. Leader had to hide his laughs in coughs.

Then the postman turned to you again: “End of story, they left to goddesses know where and are now called the lost generation by those who have an overview of the whole timeline like us postmen - only leaving about a handful of people behind, one of them being a dedicated postman to man the last post office of that age. That guy is a hero, a legend, I tell you. I want to become as dedicated as he is.”

Wow, looking at his face, the postman is serious. Just…wow.

Behind you someone put something on fire and sighing Time left to fix the mess. Called it.

“And how are you here?” you asked. “Why do you travel through portals to who knows where? Danger could lurk literally everywhere” you argued, suddenly wanting to know his reasons. Why would a simple man chose to risk his life for something as futile as delivering letters?

The man smiles suddenly, but it seems a little forced, for it is only a mask of bravery: “A postman’s job is never done and neither time nor space can stop us. We figured out there were others from us on the other side, we communicated, we organized us, we learned, and we started to deliver. It is our job after all.” Wow, they’re all heroes. Wonder why none of them was chosen to be one of the chaots behind you.

“Do you think you can reach my home?” you asked carefully, an idea forming in the back of your head.

“If there’s a portal leading to it from Hyrule, I will” the postman answered, his voice firm.

You payed the prize for sending a letter, a laughable sum of ten rupees, from the 32 rupees Wind and Four gifted you before lunch.

Then you pull out your folder (your fingers brush the scary notebook, it’s freakishly warm) and search for the emptiest page you can find. You carefully take it out and use the backside of it to write a quick message and pray that it won’t mess with reality.

While you think of words – because which words are enough for a quick message to describe your current situation and what needed to be done, the postman questions: “Did you know they are calling you Babble?”

“No” you answered, chewing on your pen in thought. “That’s a stupid name. How would you formulate this, so that no one who reads this, freaks out?”

You have to address it to your best friend, because were you to address it to your family they would freak and probably bodily harm the postman delivering it.

The you empty out your pencil case into your bag and put the letter and your phone with the SD card with the photo on it as proof in it as well as two rupees and close it, before handing it to the postman: “You’ll find whom this is addressed to?”

“Yes” he said and takes it. “This is our special kind of magic. But now I have to go. I’m already badly behind my schedule.” And so he leaves.

Meanwhile the Links seem to have sorted themselves out somewhat. And while you smile and wave and watch as the postman disappears between the tress, you finally have time to think about a little more than the basics.

And then you realize that apparently due to your inability to say your name, you have been given a nickname.

A horrible embarrassing name.

 _“Babble”_ snickers common sense. _“Gotta love that name.”_

The sound you make sounds like that teakettles do, while you press your hands against your now burning face.

And then there’s the typical click of a camera going off.

Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may also come and scream at me here: https://little-waterboiler.tumblr.com/  
> Also: I always love getting new readers, so someone got any ideas on how to improve my story summary so it attracts more readers?


	16. The one where you think a lot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You swallow the things you just learned and organize your thoughts, all while travelling a lot with the heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me every step of the way and I don't have the words to describe how glad I am that its finally done.   
> Thanks for all your continued support and reviews, kudos, etc.

After successfully surviving the embarrassment of the year, you quietly followed the others. They talked in low voices and sometimes louder, whenever Time seemed to reprimand someone. By now not only Wild and Wind were practically glued to you, but now also Hyrule. He pointed to some things and “hya”ed, to probably explain them.

Gosh, you apparently now got somewhat adopted by them. They had already given you a new name. You hoped that at least their discussion over your custody was over for now cause you were really not ready for another screaming match.

Four also held close. But he apparently had not adopted you (yet). Instead he pointed to something and asked you to name it and then he’d go still for about a minute, probably to burn the word and it’s for him complicated pronunciation into his brain, his eyes now never-ending purple. You hoped that Vio, if Four truly was as interpreted as he was in the manga with the difference of now sharing a body, did not overload himself and the others with the information dump.

And so you all traveled for the next few hours. You sadly hadn’t had your phone anymore and thus your feeling for how much time had passed was gone, too. But at least, you had some rhythm.

First you’d explain a word to Four. (“Tree.” “Three?” “T-r-e-e. Tree.” “Ah! Tree.”)

Then he’d fall a bit behind to mumble the word he had just learned to himself. (“Tree. Tree. Tree.”)

Meanwhile Hyrule would point to something and start to talk and Wind would join in with hands and feet and sometimes even the wind itself. (“Hyaaa, yah haya, hay.” “I have no idea what you just said, but okay.” “Yahaha! Hyjay jaj hay.” “I guess this plant is dangerous. Or sharp? What do you mean with this cut-throat gesture?”)

And then Wild would join in to fret over you. (“No, I’m fine! Really. So much walking sucks, but at least I have trainers. You only have stupid boots. The panting is only cuz I…breathed wrong. I can still go for hours, really! I’m top fit, really!”)

Then Wild would turn to Twilight, who’d say something to someone else, maybe Time, maybe Sky, maybe Warriors.

And then the person would turn to you. You’d smile and wave them off, and then shudder as soon as they’ve turned away under Legend’s eyes that were still boring into your back.

And Wild would see your shudder, but before he could start fretting over you again, Four would be there to ask about the next thing.

Rise, rinse and repeat.

And all the time you couldn’t help but also think about the freakish notebook in your backpack, which seemed to weigh heavier with any moment. But that could also be your exhaustion slowly setting in. You weren’t a videogame character after all. You couldn’t just run for forever until you dropped dead from exhaustion.

Also, at least you now were sure that the culprit of the magic done was definitely not you, but the notebook. When you wrote your letter and nothing has happened. But then again so had with the notebook as long as you avoided should, which you subconsciously had in your letter…

But then again, and here dread filled your stomach, you had written down your survival list, hadn’t you? And zoom, next day you just so managed to get a way to contact home. That was a bit too convenient, wasn’t it?

What if “should” simply enforced that whatever you wrote happened at the moment and left through butterfly effects the other things to happen over a longer period of time?

Shuddering again at that thought and the possibly horrible conclusion that would come with it, you glanced behind you, meeting Legend’s eyes for a second before looking away. You could still feel his gaze burning into you.

Had he even blinked? Your hands itched for a pen and to use the notebook to get him to blink, if only so that he’d stop burning your back with his glares. But then you mentally reprimanded yourself, because if you wrote it down, maybe he’d be extra unlucky and get blinded because instead of a fly it’s a wasp that made him blink. You so did not want to be responsible for that.

But his mistrust in you was definitely totally unfounded.

That you had his “secret song” on your phone was something he should have never known and if he had left it alone and accepted this thing called privacy he never would have known.

And how were you supposed to know that you came from somewhere down the timeline after him and Hyrule? He probably thought that this was too convenient.

Just like your running into the Link was and that you were chased by monsters almost every time.

Not your fault he was that mistrustful. He didn’t have a point, at all.

…

Okay, maybe a little. But all of this was not your fault.

And gosh, hylians apparently had come to Earth. What did that mean for you, your family, your culture? When had it been?

Briefly touching your now long and pointy ears (and wasn’t that a strange feeling), you sighed. They definitely were too long to have been watered down properly if basic genetics knowledge was to be trusted. Which meant that this other-world immigration had to have happened in a more recent generation. But nothing you had heard from your family histories pointed to having been otherworldly.

Also, why hadn’t you had pointy ears at home? Why did you only get them once you crossed over to here? What did it all mean?

And how did your world know about all the history of Hyrule and the different timelines to work them properly into a whole videogame franchise? Especially when the people only came from the downfall timeline?

Why couldn’t you say your name?

And how did that freaky notebook end up in your backpack?

And why was this all so complicated? You wanted answers, damn it!

A finger poked your side carefully, effectively ruining your train of thoughts.

“Shirt” you said, tired. Four repeated dutifully and you snickered at the slight mistake he had made this time. Shaking your head at his questioning gaze, you gently corrected him.

And when he fell back once more and the others started up with their routine again, you were alone with your thoughts again.

What he had just said, summoned your situation up pretty good. But you would deal.

You were tough.

“ _Just a little longer”_ common sense encouraged.

You could do this, would do this.

And, as you looked at the faces around you, even if you were sweaty and tired, you were not alone. If the notebook works as you suspected it means you’ll be home soon.

You could do this, just a little longer.

And then, when the sun started to set, you finally reached a small village.

If asked, you wouldn’t be able to describe how you finally ended up in the inn where the Links had rented three rooms.

You were out like light even before your head hit the pillow of the bed you had been given.


	17. The one where you learn a few more things about Hylians

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You learn some things you'd rather have not known. And nature calls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly plotless, but at least there's a little world building. I remember you said you liked that?

_There was light. There was warmth. Someone was singing a soft melody._

_Blearily you blinked against the blurry images your eyes gifted you._

_That looked like your…mom? What was this? She looked so young._

_Another face popped into your line of vision. Your brother. You’d recognize that type of blonde hair everywhere. And yet, something was wrong. He looked too young. Maybe four, five?_

_But that meant that you were just a baby. Huh, that would explain the blurriness._

_Was this a memory?_

_Straining your ears, you recognized the soft melody your mother sung, but the words were all wrong._

_This was not English_.

_So a dream, your mind was probably trying to swallow what you currently had to deal with._

_Aware that this was not real, you closed your eyes again and_ sleepily blinked your eyes open against the sun coming from the open window. You stared at the wooden ceiling for a moment before collecting yourself to get up, the memory-like dream already fleeing back to your subconscious where it had come from.

Sighing you sat yourself up and regretted the decision immediately. Your whole body was sore from the sheer endless travel you had forced it through yesterday. Being a full-time university student was not a promising situation for being the fittest and now all those times you had dodged any physical activity to rather review your stuff came back to bite you in the ass.

Groaning you buried the instinct to just fall back into the comfort that was the bed for another nap and instead forced yourself to get moving. You stood up and slipped your shoes and cloak back onn which you wisely at least had pulled off before dropping into the bed dead asleep. Your sore muscles bemoaned what you forced them through, but you carried on. You threw a short glance at the two other beds in the room that were filled with Links, before shaking your head, grabbing your backpack and sneaking out the room.

Outside you slowly edged your way down the long corridor before using the wooden staircase to get down into the big eating room. Only few of the tables where filled, on one of them you could see the tall figure that was Time.

Nearing him you noticed that he was alone, which meant that the others were also probably still sleeping. When he sensed your approach he turned and gave a smile and a “Hya” as a greeting.

“Hi” you greeted back, sliding into the chair across from him, he nodded and took a sip off his milk.

As if on cue, your stomach grumbled, reminding you off the fact that you had skipped dinner in favor of falling directly asleep. You blushed embarrassed, but Time didn’t seem to mind.

Instead he waved the barmaid over. She was a skinny older woman, that as soon as her eyes laid upon you sniffed as if offended before turning to Time.

Well, that was rude. You knew that you hadn’t showered in two days and probably looked not the best therefore, but that was no reason to turn her nose at you. Taking a sniff at yourself to check if maybe it was your smell that had offended her, you noticed that as crazy as it sounded, you only smelled a little like dirt, gras, smoke, blood and cloth, and not at all like you should have after sweating that much and not changing your clothes in days.

Now thinking about it you realized that neither of the Links had smelled like sweat. And they had heavy armor and god knows what else to carry.

And then realization dawned upon you.

When you had arrived in Hyrule you had changed species, hadn’t you? Maybe not getting stinky easily was another trait that had changed on top of your ear shape. Which was really neat in your current situation you had to admit.

And, looking down on the food Time had ordered for you and which a server had brought before stomping away, you realized another thing. Ever since you had arrived here you hadn’t had once the urge to relieve yourself. And you had eaten and drunk plenty.

Did that mean Hylians didn’t need to go to the toilet or…?

Just thinking about it, suddenly reminded you of nature’s call and instantly you started fidgeting.

Okay, so no not at all’s, but simply probably less waste products thus less often the urge to visit the silent place.

Which was nice to know and was probably going to be really helpful in the long run.

But right now it didn’t change the fact that you had to go. Direly.

Time seemed luckily to sense your problem and pointed behind him, to another corridor. You quickly got up and practically ran there.

And when you arrived you weren’t quite sure what you had expected, but it was not that. The toilet had two toilets next to each other and only a simple wooden door without lock to protect basic decency. There was no running water and what ended up in the hole went to who knows where, but at least some magic kept the waste products from smelling.

And there was no toilet paper.

Well, duck.

…

Turns out as soon as you left the toilet room at least there was an automatic spell that cleaned hands and whatever else got dirty, which was neat and honestly very much relieving.

Though also a little disturbing as you now knew that the only thing between pest and Hyrule was a measly cleaning spell, which you really did not want anywhere near your private quarters for as long as you could (and where did the stuff cleaned go to anyway? Eww…).

Didn’t change the fact that you would maim for a bar of soap and kill for a shower, though.

Getting back to the main room you came across the barmaid again and noticed that she was glaring at you, or to be more exact your clothes.

Well, excuuuuuuseeee you, your clothes were a little dirty but at least they were comfy and good quality, and they could be worn by literally anyone. A polo shirt and jeans were very much a good thing to wear.

Her dress meanwhile looked like it would itch like crazy and came out of a bad historic movie. She had no right to turn her nose at your clothes, and so you glared right back, before holding your head high and ignoring her.

Your clothes were not weird, they were nothing to scoff at. She was just jealous.

At the table you sat down to eat your breakfast and slowly but surely the other Links trickled in, one by one and they all too got to eat their breakfasts.

And every time the barmaid came, she’d glare and sniff at your clothes and you would glare and sniff right back.

Stupid old hag.

The others were snickering at your interaction, but Time looked thoughtful.

And when breakfast was done, he turned to Four and talked to him.

Four narrowed his eyes in thought before he finally turned to you. Demonstratively he stood up, looking at you, before asking: “You say?”

“Stand?” you guessed the words he wanted to know. He nodded in thought, mumbling the word, before quickly sitting down again, looking at you. “Sit” you said, this time more confident.

He nodded and then explained what he wanted to say: “You shirt stand. Is bad.”

“Your shirt stands out. It is bad” you gently corrected. He nodded and you added first pulling at your shirt, then at trousers and shirt at the same time: “This is a shirt. These are clothes.”

He nodded, amethyst eyes glowing with understanding when he finally gave the message the Links wanted to give you: “Your clothes stand out. It is bad.”

Well, jeans were not available here, no duh. But, looking at the people in front of you, you added: “Well, your clothes stand out, too. Or don’t you agree that” you point to Time and Warriors. “they have outstanding armour and he’s got” and you point to Legend. “no pants, just to name a few examples. You’re all clad differently than the others in this pub.” To underline your statement you made a wide motion with your arms all across the room.

That was something all of them understood. No more words needed.

Well, excuse you. You had your personal (if very average) style, you wouldn’t just let them change you. Also, they were more comfortable than whatever the others wore. So what if they were from a completely foreign material (because you figured that this was the main reason your clothes probably stood out)?

Your clothes were strange, even for their situation, so what?

Theirs were strange, too, after all. Didn’t matter at all that yours were the strangest.


	18. The one where you shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You shop, hop dimensions and are a bit cheekier than expected. Not in that particular order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big BIG BIIIIIG shout-out to Bbobb25 who offered to start beta reading my chapters. So once I get a corrected chapter I'll update it here, so there won't be a delay with my update schedule (which still doesn't exist, seeing as I update as soon as I finish writing a chapter). Still, thank you so much! A round of applause for Bbobb25!

In the end you still ended up flanked by three Links in front of a shop, which sold food, items and – surprise, surprise - clothes. The others had gone off to “learn” something. If that tumblr post and your experience were to be trusted they were probably searching for another one of these black portal thingies. Ugh, your stomach already twisted at the thought of having to go through that kind of experience again.

“It is a…?” Four, on the right to you asked, looking at you expectantly. “Shop” you said, annoyed.

He nodded.

“Shop … clothes.” “Sells.” “You…clothes.” “Buy.” “You buy clothes … money.” “With.”

Grinning Wild prepared his Sheikah slate. Probably to drown you in money, if Twilight’s exhausted sigh was to be trusted.

“No” you said annoyed and crossed your arms. They already had done so much for you, you didn’t need them to update your wardrobe on top. Plus yours were much more comfortable than anything here.

“Yes” echoed it from three mouths with different grades of pronunciation and motivation. Alright, you didn’t expect that. When had they all learned that phrase?

Defeated and outvoted you let yourself be dragged into the shop. There were some shelves with clothes to choose from, all right.

Twilight and Four took care of buying up their stock of food, arrows and who knows what else, while Wild dragged you to the clothes corner and picked up randomly clothes to hold against you. While he seemed caught deciding between two identical colored red shirt to try and hold against you, you made your escape.

Sighing, you went to the one that seemed to offer the cheapest clothes, some even seemed second hand. You were not going to pick those, though, who knows who wore these and your faith in the cleaning spells only went so far. Still, seeing as you had no choice in the matter and if you were to be forced to buy something, you would not cost them more money than necessary.

While the Wild searched for clothes for you on the more expensive shells, always flitting between you and them to show his choices to you and compare sizes (and why was he getting so invested in this?), you browsed alone in the cheap shelf.

You found a very baggy black trouser that probably would itch like crazy if worn on skin and thus probably wasn’t bought yet but which you could easily slip over your jeans for adaption.

Then, searching for a matching overall, your hands suddenly touched very soft and nice fabric. Confused, because what was doing something that nice in the cheapest stack, you pulled it out and almost regretted it immediately.

The long-sleeved tunic was such a bright yellow that seemed to practically glow as if it tried to burn your eyes away. For a second you considered stashing it away again as far back as you could, but then your inner gremlin awoke.

This tunic was surprisingly exactly your size. And well, they did want you to adapt to clothes here, right?

Also it would be a pity to have this probably very comfortable thing to rot away in the back of this shelf, wouldn’t it?

Cackling you went to the shopkeeper, who seemed to wear proto sunglasses. Clever guy. And he seemed very much relieved.

Quickly you paid the ten rupees (and wasn’t that ridiculously cheap in comparison to the letter? Economy here seems to really have gone down the drain) you still had for both clothes, before Wild could try to pay for you, and slipped the cloak he had gifted you (his refusal when you tried to give it back to him once again was very clear) off so you could pull the tunic on. Then you slipped the trousers over your jeans and put the cloak back on before grinning, cackling and turning to the Links who seemed very surprised and curious on what you had decided on.

Instantly they all turned away, nearly blinded by your tunic, before they also started to cackle (even Twilight, which was very surprising) as their inner gremlins got released.

You truly were the master of adaptability after all. You were not standing out anymore, after all, were you?

How long would it be until Time, who you figured the probably normally sensible command had come from him, would allow you to go back to your usual outfit?

…

Not even five seconds, it seemed.

Under the cackling of nearly everyone else (once they regained their sight, that is) he first facepalmed before throwing his hands up in despair.

You definitely counted that as a win as you stashed away the newly purchased clothes in your now stuffed backpack, next to your now fully with milk filled bottle.

Take that, old man.

And then the journey to who knows where continued, everything fell back into the old routine.

Until there was another black portal.

Sighing in defeat, decided to get this over and done with as fast as you could, already mentally waving your breakfast goodbye.

And then you went arm to arm, this time with Sky, into the portal once more.

And then you were falling once more through a rainbow of dark colors as reality stretched and bend around you.

And as you moved in milliseconds through time and space you felt as if you had the whole universe at your fingertips.

In those stolen milliseconds you could feel everything that was and ever will be. You heard whispered voices of the past and the present and the future.

Sky didn't seem to notice, it was as if time for him was stopped.

Your backpack never felt as heavy. It seemed as if there was a glow coming from it.

The notebook, you realized suddenly, with a scaring clarity.

The reason you experienced all of this was the notebook. The reason you were not paused was the notebook.

Meekly you looked around, now terrified of what this could mean for you, and caught green eyes and moving figures. The green eyes widened as you found yourselves staring at eachother for a second, before they suddenly disappeared.

And then you heard the voices once more, oh the voices.

_A woman hummed a soft lullaby in a language you didn't know._

_A little girl prayed for mercy, for a future for the people she wouldn't know._

_A little boy held his only sibling close as he bravely stepped into a new reality for a new life, his parents left and right by his side._

_A lost land mourned its loss of its only hope._

_A new dimension that swallowed the traveler’s pasts and memories and integrated them into itself._

_And people screamed as a black hole ate away at reality and swallowed half the bus in a rainbow of dark colors._

And then you were free.

Your knees gave in as you let go of Sky's arm before crawling away. Your breakfast ended up prematurely in one of the nearby bushes, while Sky now too fretted over you, having relieved you of your bag and rubbing your back. Once you were done, he gave you a water bottle so you may rid yourself of the horrible taste of vomit on your tongue. You took it for once without a second thought.

They had cleaning spells, right? That would probably take care of the bacteria anyway.

Once you had collected yourself enough, you looked up and realized that apparently you were not the only one affected, which was nice to know and was apparently a fact you had neglected to notice in your misery last time.

Apropos Time, he had a look on his face like he’d just won the lottery, even though he seemed to suffer from a monster headache at the same time.

You followed his gaze until you saw a familiar hill in the far, where you knew from uncountable replays was a certain ranch placed (and wasn’t it so weird to see this now in real life?). Guess you were now in Time’s time.

Well, let’s see what kind of surprises that would bring.


	19. Interlude 3: The one where they have post

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in our dimension...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally going back to the more humorous side of things. Hope you enjoy. Next few chapters probably won't be as funny...

Malin crossed her arms before sighing. This was ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

And dangerous. So completely dangerous that it wasn’t even funny anymore.

Her fiancé didn’t seem to notice. He strutted through the room as if he owned it, armed to the teeth. His ridiculously huge backpack was packed to the brim with literally anything one could need if they travelled through warzones, rainforests, the poles, deserts, the sea and finally to the moon for good measure. Malin absent mindedly wondered how he hadn’t collapsed under the weight yet.

The young man meanwhile grinned and pulled the two absurdly large guns strapped to each leg from their sheaths to make a dramatic posture when he caught Malin’s eyes on him. “So how do I look?” he asked, before putting the guns back to where he had taken them and straightening his army jacket. And where he got that soldiers uniform complete with the green-brown camouflage colors without ever having been at the army was another mystery that Malin did not want to solve.

“Like you’re going into a suicide mission” Malin finally voiced, a frown twisting her face as she crossed her arms.

The blonde sighed at that. “Love” he breathed. “You know that I cannot hesitate any longer…”

“But what if they’re already dead!” Malin finally broke out as she fought against tears. “What if you’re risking your life for nothing! What if you die? We planned to finish our studies this summer and then finally marry! Why throw your life like that away?”

He looked away for a moment, trying to collect himself: “But what if I can still save them? I cannot let this thought go. You promised you’d let me at least try.”

Helplessly he threw his arms up, before turning to the young woman sitting on the couch of the room: “Zelda, please explain to my…”

He stopped short when he saw that the girl had fallen asleep. Drool dribbled down her chin and she was in for a crick in the neck when she awoke. Next to him, Malin sniggered: “Well, you took too long getting yourself into gear, so she decided to take a quick nap.”

Now more solemn, she approached her friend. “She hasn’t been sleeping well recently. Nightmares have continued to plague her and if it aren’t nightmares they’re still dreams that stay on her mind every waking moment. Impi is at her wits end seeing as even sleeping pills don’t help her get a resting sleep.”

Impi was one Zelda’s father’s employees. She was a middle-aged woman with albinism that had been employed as Zelda’s bodyguard after a kidnapping incident when Zelda had been only eight. By now the woman had also become a kind of mother surrogate for Zelda and the one in charge of keeping this family running. Right now she was missing, probably running from doctor to doctor to get a suitable treatment for her charge’s nightly troubles.

Gently Malin touched Zelda’s shoulders and shook the girl softly awake. The girl snapped her eyes open before blinking a few times, trying to adjust to the light.

“Slept well?” Malin asked. “Zelda’s green eyes focused on her, before the girl spoke: “I saw them again.”

“They’re just dreams” Malin gently said and the young man felt as if he was missing a huge chunk of information right there, while he watched the two women interact.

“No, no” Zelda insisted. “They’re safe and sound. And they answered me. I dreamed they mailed a letter. I watched them travel through time and space.”

Then her gaze snapped to the blond, boring into him before commenting dryly: “You’d be an idiot to go now.”

“How do you know that?” he answered then, angered. “Where is this letter you speak off?”

Zelda paused frowning, unsure of the answer.

The young man took that as his answer: “There is no letter, they’re not fine and I will have to go and save them. And you won’t stop me. You promised.”

Zelda sighed, before slowly nodding.

And then the doorbell rang.

“I’ll take it” she expressed tiredly, taking a brief glance at her friend before adding: “No one should see you like this right now.” “I’ll go with her” Malin muttered broken, not even glancing back before she left the room, leaving a frustrated and sad fiancé behind.

The woman raced down the long corridors before hurrying down the huge stairs to the entrance door of the mansion.

Without hesitation Zelda opened the large front door before stopping short. Next to her Malin gave a surprised gasp as she took in the short man standing on the doorstep. He had short, mouse-brown hair, a red cap and white, very skin showing clothes.

“Oh my…are you a cosplayer?” the redhead asked, finding her words first. The man gave an indignant squeak before announcing outraged: “I am a postman!”

A beat passed before Zelda flatly announced: “You’ve got a horrible accent.” Then, while he was angrily sputtering, she grabbed his arm promptly and dragged him without warning into the mansion. Malin sighed, closed the door, and followed after her friend.

Once Zelda had reached the room where the young man was still stationed, she let go of the postman’s arm, before announcing: “I was right!” The postman meanwhile rubbed his abused arm annoyed and announced: “That’s not a way to treat a postman, heck, any human being!”

“And we’re terribly sorry” Malin soothed, smiling gently. “You’ve got a letter for us?”

“After the treatment I just got I might be inclined to just burn it” the brunette grumbled to that, crossing his arms incensed.

“You wouldn’t dare!” instantly came from the two blondes in the room. And looking at the girl with almost glowing green eyes and the young man armed to the teeth the postman quietly agreed that yes, indeed, he wouldn’t.

Also, it was his job after all to deliver letters and not to burn them. He hadn’t just made this interspatial and intertimely trip to just burn the letter after everything. That would be like kicking a cuccoo on purpose, which was to say not very bright.

Didn’t matter that the people he had to deliver to sucked. He had a job to do, it was his holy call after all.

Wordlessly he tugged the letter out of the pocket dimension he had within his trousers and while both the man and the redhead seemed disturbed by the action, Zelda simply snatched the letter and blinked as it turned out to be a pencil case.

“It’s their’s” the young woman breathed. And instantly the other blonde in the room jumped into action: “Gimme!”

In the ensuring struggle over who got the pencil case and its innards, the postman quietly decided that it would be better to escape before the insanity that seemed to haunt this mansion struck him, too, and thus he decided he’d rather leave. Carefully he inched to the door, only to be stopped by Malin. “And where do you think you’re going, Mister?” she asked and crossed her arms. “We’ve still got a lot of questions and you’re going to answer us, or so help me.” And the postman gulped in fear.

Meanwhile the small bout had ended with a clear victory for Zelda. While her friend was taller than her, he also was usually a very lazy law student and thus not the sportiest. She, meanwhile had not studied but rather spent all her day doing whatever she wanted, be it videogames or simple walks in the nearby park to enjoy the sun, and thus was more agile and therefore finally managed to pin him to the ground by sitting cross-legged on his back.

“Unfair” wheezed the young man from where he lay face down in the soft and luxury carpet of the room. “That’s life” stated Zelda coldly with all her Gamer-wisdom, before promptly unzipping the pencil case. The impaled phone slipped out from inside and drew a soft gasp from Zelda, who felt dread settle in her stomach.

Malin, too, knew that her future sibling-in-law would rather do a lot other of nasty things before letting their new phone end up like this. Next Zelda removed the two rupees uncaringly before quickly unfolding the letter.

And then she started to cackle.

“What is it?” the young man beneath her asked and with the power of an overprotective brother finally managed to successfully throw Zelda off.

While she was still too busy grasping for air because she was laughing too hard, he finally managed to conquer the letter successfully. His head promptly turned different shades of red before he finally broke out into relieved and embarrassed laughter, too, and then offered the letter to Malin, who curiously read it.

And within there stood:

"Hey everyone,

I just wanted to tell you not to worry. I might be currently a little dimensionally misplaced, but I am fine.

Zelda, do you remember that last message you send me? That one about the Linked Universe? Yeah, those are the boys I'm currently hanging out with. So there is seriously no need to worry as I am in the best company possible.

In the back there are some real-life rupees, so you can find someone to write me an excuse for university and the missed examen. You can keep the rest by the way.

Bro, please don’t do anything stupid (like jumping into black portals, if you have them too). I mean it. I’m fine and in (somewhat) good hands. Really, proof is on the SD card. Ignore the fact that my phone is broken, some of the Links decided to be idiots and invade my privacy. They got paid back double and triple for that incident. I’m fine, really.

Malin, please stop my brother dearest from doing something really idiotic like trying to go after me.

Thanks a lot

Babble (because that is what the Links have been calling me according to the postman who has a horrible accent.)"

“Well, he does” Zelda defended her childhood friend as she saw Malin fondly roll her eyes, before the redhead turned to her fiancé: “It’s funny how you almost did the one thing they explicitly asked you to not do, tright?” The young answered with indignant sputters.

“And seeing as all the receivers have read the letter, I’ll be taking my leave now” the postman quickly said, before making his way to the room’s exit once more.

This time it was Zelda who stopped him by grabbing his arm once more a bit firmer than necessary, causing him to wince. “You’ll stay here! We still have some things we have to send as a care packet. And it would be a pity if you have to do this horrible timely-spacey trip twice, don’t you agree?” the sharp glint in her eyes caused him to break out into sweat.

“But my schedule” the poor man stuttered out pitifully.

“Your schedule can go duck itself” the young man announced, nearing the other male. “You look totally overworked, man, just take some holidays. Stay here a while, Zelda’s got lots and lots of guest rooms.”

“It’s by law that people get holidays, according to paragraph…” Malin added for good measure.

The brunette man seemed like mouse in trap in that moment, his predators circling him.

“You get full lodge for free until we sent the care package” Zelda assured, grinning. “Would you really mind living for a while in luxury just to wait and deliver a package?”

The man squeaked, caught between duty and basic human desires.

Zelda took that as her answer, happily she clapped her hands together: “Great, now let’s get working!"


	20. The one where they have a good time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About reunions and visitors on Lon Lon Ranch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On LU discord I had the luck to watch a live-write about a story I waited a long time to get a new chapter today and it finally broke through my small writer's block, so enjoy this chapter.

The reunion on the ranch was always beautiful to watch. First there was a passionate kiss once Malon, who had been cleaning up the kitchen at the time, had realized just who was standing there in the doorway.

The Links stayed quiet while their Leader had his reunion as they carefully piled into the thankfully large enough room, whilst above Babble’s head there seemed to be a huge question mark as soon as they had carefully puled the door closed and turned their view forward, their height making it possible to see what was happening.. Confused they goggled at the reunited pair, their head tilted sideways and the workings within their brain seemed to almost cause smoke to leave their ears.

Twilight, who had been taking in the peaceful atmosphere that the ranch house had, saw their plight, and gently lifted his left hand to point at his right ring finger. Understanding seemed to bloom across Babble’s face at that and they gave a firm, thankful nod.

And then finally Malon and Time parted and turned to the others in the room, their leader had a love-sick, dopey look on his face while Malon seemed a little giddy.

Twilight watched them and wondered if his own parents had been like that, too. It was clear that Time was his ancestor and while Twilight looked up to the man as is father figure he couldn’t help these thoughts. He had been very young when he’d become part of Ordon village, so whatever memory he had from his real parents was almost non-telling just as he never understood why he had been found that day in the village, as he couldn’t remember how he got there.

After his adventure Twilight had travelled Hyrule searching for his missing past but had never found out anything. And so the only thing he had from his parents had been the only thing he had always clearly remembered: Epona’s song.

And knowing that it had been Malon’s mother who wrote that song made it pretty clear which way Twilight’s lineage went. And as he soaked in the warmth that was Lon Lon Ranch he couldn’t help the thought that this reminded him of the feeling he had in Ordon. The feeling of home.

“Oh my, if I had known you came today, I would have prepared more lunch” Malon lamented, but Wild quickly interfered: “That’s no problem, really. I think if we work together we can quickly make something.”

Malon smiled, nodded and then she took care to hug each of them as a greeting, whether they acted like they liked it or not.

And then, finally her eyes found the newest member of their group. “Oh my…? Another one? And who might you be?” she asked curiously as she neared them. Babble’s eyes widened almost comically before they nervously gave a soft “Hi”.

“We call them Babble cuz they do not understand us” Wind, who stood next to them, explained quickly. “Four’s learning their language so we can communicate.”

“You’re learning their language and yet you haven’t even bothered to learn their name?” Malon chided, crossed her arms and gave the smallest Link the from mother’s patented Disappointed Mom stare. The colorful hero seemed to shrink away by instinct and Twilight wondered if the teenager had activated his Minish powers. But then he seemed to catch himself to finally explain: “Look, it’s not like we didn’t ask, it’s just like we cannot speak it.”

Quickly Four turned and babbled spoke something to Babble at which they seemed to pout for a moment, before sighing and then opening their mouth to speak, only to have once more a bubble escaping them. And what was that with them being unable to say their name?

“Oh” Malon only muttered, watching as the bubble float up to the ceiling where it burst. “They can’t say their name, then?”

“Yes” Babble replied, their pronunciation absolutely terrible but definitely understandable. Four stood next to them, grinning and clapping on their shoulder as a praise for a job well done. Though Babble had probably guessed what the question was, it still meant a small success. While the learning seemed to have been mostly one sided they seemed to have listened enough to what Four was learning to repeat the most simplest words. Which was a huge step forward.

Malon nodded in thought, having come to apparently the same conclusion. And she clapped her hands before announcing: “Anyway, we should get lunch ready now, you must be starving! Just go to the guest rooms to unpack and then Wild and I should have managed to make something in the meantime.” Wild nodded determined next to her and thus the Links scattered. Wind and Four sandwiched Babble between them to guide them to the room where they had stayed in the last few times.

It was really heartwarming to watch how well the - apparently if the postman was to be believed - dimension-traveler had been accepted into their rows. Twilight smiled and then he proceeded to the room he would share with Warrior and Wild for the foreseeable future until either they continued their travels through portals (unlikely, seeing as Time would rather not be parted from his wife too soon) or were ripped away by spontaneous time skipping once more (definitely more likely, it was as if Dark Link or whatever else was responsible for their sudden timeskips didn’t want them to have happy and peaceful times).

When lunch was ready and done they all sat on the extended table that now was within the eating room of the main building of the Ranch and enjoyed the eatable piece of paradise that had spawned from the combined cooking skills of both Malon and Wild.

And then, while the others were in amicable conversations, Time asked his wife in friendly conversation: “I’ve noticed there were some more plates to be washed from this morning. Did your father come back?”

The woman shook her head: “No, Dad’s still out delivering milk all over Hyrule. It was actually a young man who had searched for nightly shelter and had found it in our shed. I might have attacked him, thinking he was a burglar when I found him. Poor kid had been absolutely terrified.”

Time laughed and praised his wife for her skills with a pitchfork while Twilight, who had been silently listening in, had to secretly agree with whoever had been on the wrong end of Malon’s pitchfork. The redhead could be absolutely terrifying if angered.

Malon continued: “The young man was actually the reason why I was not as surprised as I probably should be regarding to poor Babble’s name troubles. His name was Ga” A small bubble fled her lips. “non.”

Suddenly there was clatter the loud sound of a lot of tableware falling on the wood that was the table as six more people’s heads instantly whipped around and concentrated only on what the woman had to say, as well as several variations of the phrase: “Did she just say Ganon?”

The only one still unperturbed eating was Sky who had the incredibly luck of not having to have dealt with an incarnation of Ganon and thus only paid halfway attention due to them having explained the story behind that name.

“No, no, sillies” Malon soothed. “It’s Ga(another small bubble)non. Two n, not just one. I don’t know why, but somehow it’s impossible for me to speak it right. He had trouble saying it, too. I don’t know why. He was just as surprised as I was.”

Instantly the tense atmosphere relaxed, but most of them still seemed a little more attentive than probably necessary.

“Did he look Gerudo?” Time questioned and Malon nodded thoughtfully: “Yes, he did, but he swore me up and down that he was human. He said that back where he’s from there are no Gerudos and everyone’s human, no matter their skin color.”

“And you believed him?” Warriors inquired, doubt written plainly across his face.

“I looked him in his eyes, and he said he was good and so I believed him. Anyway, it doesn’t matter right now, he left hours ago directly after breakfast.” Malon answered firmly. Next to her, her husband nodded in agreement: “I trust the judgement of my wife in this case. So let it go, boys.”

Quiet murmurs opened to that, but no one openly disagreed. Four was quietly translating to Babble as best as he could. Babble’s eyes took on impossible sizes and nearly seemed to pop out of their head by the time the smallest hero was done.

Then they snapped their head to Malon and babbled quickly at her, Four next to them strained to catch it all. And then he translated as good as he could: “Babble asked if he wore strange clothes like they do and if he couldn’t talk either? I did not catch that right, something about journals or notebooks?”

“Well, his clothes, especially his trousers look similarly strange to yours, Babble, now that I think about it” Malon explained while Four quickly translated. “But he certainly spoke fluently and accent less Hylian as if he were raised near here. But now that you mention it, he did have a notebook with him. Some pages were missing, though, and he wants to hunt the thief down to get them back.”

While Four was translating Wind quietly asked: “Why steal pages out of a stupid old used journal, though? There’s a lot of better things one can steal!”

“Why, maybe it’s magical” joked Hyrule and everyone had a good laugh at that.

Grinning, Four turned once more to Babble to translate and make them join in with the laughter, but the message had apparently the opposite effect than intended. Babble’s face turned grim and they stared at their plate for a moment. And then they explained quietly their thoughts to Four.

Four gasped and paled before quickly letting the rest of the group know of Babble’s thoughts: “Babble thinks that Ga(a small Bubble)non is from their dimension. They think they actually know him.”

And while this piece of news instantly brought new revelations that no one was ready for yet and thus spawned in loud talks once more, Twilight saw Legend staring openly at Babble, now cold eyes practically pinning them, his thoughts unclear.

But, of that Twilight was sure, his thoughts had to be racing as much as all the other’s were if not more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may loose your sh*t in the comments.   
> And next chapter is almost done also, btw. It's a flashback chapter that's probably going to clear some things up, for once. *cackling*


	21. Chronicles 1: The one where he really wants to be somewhere else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's just say Gannon Dragmire did not have a good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a flashback of schoolyard bullying and thus mention of violence on young children.  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter neither the less, it should finally clear some things up, give some answers and bring even more questions. You may scream at me in the comments while I work on the next chapter.

Gannon was a very easy-going man. He had always been calm and tried his best in a world that seemed to be set against him.

And wasn’t that ironic seeing as his name was actually an Irish one with the meaning fair?

Still, even as a young boy he had endured and had done his best to be good. He was a good friend, a good classmate, and a good grandson.

And then, suddenly he was an adult and had to find his own path in life, seeing as though he was smart, he was not as smart as his friends were. And he was also not rich, so he didn’t have their chances at all.

Thus one day he had decided to pack up and travel the world, see and learn things he had never known and maybe help some people. His only guide had been his trusty journal in which he had written all of his childhood’s dreams and goals.

And then he’d lost it.

He’d searched the stupid desert where he had been at that time twice over and didn’t find it. All of his notes were gone.

And instead he had found a pretty black and silver journal.

And that was when Gannon realized that maybe it was on the time to stop chasing childhood dreams and follow a new and better path. He would always be good, of course, still.

And so he lightened a new cigarette with a lighter he had purchased recently, because the ones he had packed before starting his journey had mysteriously vanished from his pack just when he had said his friends goodbye, and began writing.

He smiled fondly as he remembered the lighter-thief’s particular determination to convert him into a non-smoker. Well, he could smoke and still be good, also it calmed him very much.

And so he had started his journal once more until it was filled with little thought all over, ranging from “I want to be able to improve the world” to “People should understand me and accept me for who I am.” Because wasn’t that the problem, people seeing him and just assuming things?

And once he had come halfway with filling the pages, he finally decided to return home. Just in time it seemed, seeing as one of his friends, the lighter-thief, to be exact, had a big examen exactly that morning.

Ready to surprise them and to cheer on them in person and not just through a phone, Gannon hadn’t even hesitated to run right back out after giving his grandmothers quick kisses and hugs.

And as luck would have had it, he caught just the bus in which the pipsqueak had seated themself.

 _“They had really come a long way”,_ Gannon thought proudly, as he watched them going once more over their studying material, before chuckling when he saw the student slowly drifting off. They were truly a sleepy head, after all.

Grinning he seated himself next to them, ready to wake them so they didn’t miss their stop once it arrived. That would be a nice surprise, wouldn’t it?

Snickering, he had pulled his journal out and started doodling in it. Before he was aware of it he realized that his thoughts were drifting. They drifted off to his other friend who Gannon especially wanted to meet again.

“I really wish I was somewhere else right now” he thought and wrote. Because he truly did want to be somewhere else. Surrounded by both his best friends in the gaming room would be the most preferable. He still had a few Super Smash Bros rematches to win after all.

And then suddenly there was screaming, and Gannon felt terribly dizzy as he was catapulted through a rainbow of dark colors.

And then he was suddenly in the middle of a dark forest. Every bone in his body seemed to hurt and the world was spinning. And then, when the world was focused again, there was a dark man with him.

A dark man, as in not dark-skinned like Gannon was but as in “having taken a bath in black paint”, was there and he was grinning with sharp white teeth as he had the guts to page through Gannon’s journal. “What a nice journal you’ve got there” he commented calmly, as if he was talking about the weather and not about how he had invaded Gannon’s privacy.

Pure rage and sudden hate seemed to engulf Gannon’s body in an intensity he had never known, and he only registered that he had moved when his fist had connected with the stranger’s chin.

The man let out a surprised sound and Gannon used the moment to get his journal back into his possession. Like a newborn baby he carefully cradled it while the stranger rubbed his chin cackled. Gannon did not like the crazed look in the being’s red eyes, not all.

And then the person suddenly was gone, like he had suddenly slipped into the Shadows to hide.

A shiver of fear went down Gannon’s spine - because how weird was that – before gently browsing through his past thoughts, only find some of them cruelly ripped out. Horrified Gannon counted the damage and found that one page of his private thoughts had been abducted and nine of the blank pages.

That mastard.

A near inhuman growl broke out of his throat and Gannon was shocked by the unknown intensity of it. But then he focused his thoughts again and once more anger surged through him, intoxicating and motivating like a drug.

He was going to hunt that creep down and get his pages back and his revenge.

That man had no idea with whom he had messed.

But first Gannon would have to find a way out of the forest and figure out where the duck he was.

And so he stashed away his journal in his travel bag, which he luckily hadn’t left at home and

started a very tiring journey.

And what was up with this forest? He never had heard of any of the beings he had encountered there, ever. It was almost fantastic, if not for the fact that it tried to kill him around every corner.

He wasn’t sure when he finally managed to stumble out of the vast monster-infested something that was the forest, but once he finally managed, he was tired, hurting, hungry and thirsty. But he trudged on, always step for step, while playing with his gun that had just successfully saved his life more times than he wanted to count.

And then, finally, just as the sun started to set, he spotted a huge stonewall in front of him. New hope surged through him and he quickly ran along it, until he finally saw a wooden bridge that led to the only visible gate. Happily he jogged to it until, just as he was about to reach it, it was drawn up, thus effectively sealing Gannon off.

“What the actual duck…” Gannon muttered, dread settling into his stomach as he stood there, alone who knows where in the dark of the night.

And then suddenly a skeleton-like, bipedal creature burst through the ground next to him.

Gannon couldn’t help the shriek that escaped him, before he quickly made himself scarce. But where to? These things were everywhere, and Gannon felt like he had been catapulted into a bad fantasy horror novel.

Then his searching eyes found their salvation in form of a small settlement on top of a hill, surrounded by high walls. Without thinking twice Gannon quickly made his way there as fast as his feet could carry him.

There he found that this apparently was a ranch. Well, it was better then nothing. Seeing as knocking on the locked doors of both house and opposite barn, didn’t result in answers, for it was already late, Gannon resigned himself to find shelter somewhere where he wouldn’t be too intruding, seeing as here at least there weren’t any of these skeleton monsters.

Surely whoever owned this place would understand this poor traveler’s misfortune and be lenient to understand why he slept there. Gannon at least hoped so.

And so when he found a shed which wasn’t locked, he went inside and used the stray that laid there to get some rest. He’d chase after that a*shole in the morning.

…

In the morning he woke to a pitchfork pointed at his throat and a very angry redhead holding it and knew instantly that he was ducked.

“Who are you?” the woman asked, and Gannon wondered how such a simple question could sound so threatening. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m simply a mere traveler and I search for the one that stole something precious from me” Gannon explained, as calmly as he could while trying to do his best to ignore the pitchfork dangerously close to spiking up his throat. “When night came, the gate closed and to escape the monsters that roam the fields at night I searched for shelter here. When I asked at the door and no one answered I hoped for kindness and understanding and thus took it upon myself to find some.”

The pitchfork didn’t lower. “Are you Gerudo?” the woman asked, eyes narrowed.

What the actual heck? What was this, Legend of Zelda?

“I’m human” Gannon said, annoyed. “And I don’t see how that plays a role here.”

And when he looked at the woman closer and saw her pointed ears, he realized with dread, that it might as well be.

“It does, because you match the description of a man that my husband told me to be aware of” the redhead answered coldly with narrowed eyes. “So what is your name?”

 _“If this is Legend of Zelda, then I am done for”_ Gannon realized absent mindedly. And then he said with all the honesty he possessed: “I’m Gan(a small bubble escaped his lips to his surprise)on Dragmire.”

Instantly the pitchfork was pressing into him and Gannon would be surprised if it didn’t draw blood: “YOU!”

“Wohoho, wait!”

“Tell me one good reason why I should let you live and not kill you like the scum of earth you are!”

“Cause there’s a mistake! I swear! It’s Gan(another bubble)on Dragmire, not Ganon Dragmire!”

“I do not see the difference!”

“There’s one, I swear! I dunno why I can’t say it, but it’s two n, it really is! I’m not that guy you think I am! I’m not a bad guy! I’m good, I’m good!”

_“Ganon Dragmire - like that videogame villain?” the first kid sneered. The second added: “You even look that part. Where did you let your -dorf?” “And you really think we would, let you join in in our games?” the third kid mocked. “How can you be so stupid to think we would let a bad guy play with us good guys?”_

_“But I’m good” Gannon cried out, in tears, when the first hit connected with him. “I’m Gannon, not Ganon. I’m good, I swear.”_

“I’m good, I’m good, I’m good…” Gannon mumbled, shaking and curled together, desperate to escape the memories. And then, suddenly someone was hugging him and shushing him: “Sht…Shtt…everything’s good. You’re good. The people who tormented you are not here. You’re safe.”

Blinking the tears from his eyes, Gannon realized the awkward position he was in and quickly freed himself under the now kind eyes from the hug. The woman now kneeling in front of him smiled gently before speaking: “I’m sorry my inquiries brought that past trauma back up. I didn’t intend to do so, I promise. Would you like to talk?”

“No…no, I don’t want to. I’m sorry you had to see that. It’s been years since this last happened. I thought I would have been over it by now, but it seems like I wasn’t completely. I should be better than though, I am an adult after all…” Gannon stuttered as he slowly edged away from the redhead.

The woman smiled saddened: “Traumas do not care whether you’re an adult or a child, they will strike whenever they please. No one is ever truly over them. Do not be ashamed of them.”

Then she stood up and brushed the hay off of her clothes: “Where are my manners? Come, I’ll make you a breakfast. I heard your stomach growl like a bear. We can talk some more there, Gan(a bubble)on.”

She turned from him and Gannon carefully got up on shaking legs and watched as she opened the shed’s door.

“I’m Malon, by the way” she then added, turning back to him.

 _“Oh sh*t”_ realized Gannon right then and there. _“This really is Legend of Zelda.”_


	22. The one where they duck up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the others may trust Babble so easily, Legend is suspicious. Or paranoid, you may pick either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is this? The third chapter on the third day in one row!  
> My creative juices are just so flowing so enjoy!

A magical notebook, huh? While that sounded like a joke, it still seemed to have hit Babble, the mystery, the stranger, hard.

And that was when Legend realized that it had to be true, as weird as it sounded. It might seem paranoid, but this paranoia had kept Legend alive for all of his adventures and even after.

How had the others started to trust that stranger so easily?

Easy, the kid seemed as dangerous as a teddy bear. Cute, unable to properly talk and unknowing about the most basic dangers.

But there were also all those little things that didn’t sum up, because they were just too fitting.

Of all people the kid ran into, it was them. Babble got chased by monsters which they purposefully lead to them not once, but twice. And, oh wonder, when the kid actually fought it was in fact decent enough. Why hadn’t they then tried to defend themselves sooner and instead guided the Links into trouble?

And why had they been found in Wild’s Hyrule when, according to the postman they should be in a completely different universe? If there was another Hyrule which was connected to another dimension shouldn’t there be a hero also? A hero they should have met long ago if the usual pattern was to be believed instead of some wannabe damsel in distress Babble? Then why, if there was a complete other Hyrule, hadn’t they all been transported there yet?

Oh, and let’s not forget why had they come from the place in the timeline where things seemed to have gone even more downwards than even Hyrule’s already really sh*tty Hyrule? To get pity, of course, because it was so bad that Babble’s people themselves didn’t even live there anymore and fled to a whole other dimension.

And how did this other guy from the dimension next over end up here and why was he called of all things Ga(whatever)non? Who also apparently was a friend of little “innocent” Babble?

And how had Babble gotten their hands upon Legend’s secret song, the one he had never told anyone about, the one he had never played outside a world made of dreams?

Also, if Babble was really that frightened by their standards strange worlds they were travelling through, shouldn’t they have done their best to adapt and learn their language and not the other way around by forcing their mindpower on learning their language and doing everything in their might to stand out?

This all pointed to one thing, which Legend didn’t very much like. It showed that there was a high chance of Babble actually being a spy for Dark Link or another bad guy, who was sent to infiltrate them and destroy them from the inside. Their story being nothing than a very detailed farce.

And Legend had miraculously managed as the only one to look right through it.

But this all hung on one concept: the magical notebooks.

Because being a spy would be extremely unuseful without a possibility to report back. Because Babble was always with at least one Link a time there was no way for them to sneak away and secretly report, and at night they always had someone guarding the others so there was no way, too.

But if their notebook, and Legend had for a fact seen Babble possessing and using one, was magical there was a definite possibility of Babble using it to contact the outside and give prize everything they had learned about them. Especially if there was a second notebook connected to theirs, which was now learning about that elusive friend of theirs entirely too likely. Why else would he hunt so desperately after missing pages if they did not contain vital information over the ones he planned to exterminate?

Ganon was Ganon after all, no matter if he had one n or two n and it was sure that he planned together with Dark Link to get rid of the nuisance that was the bearers of the hero’s spirit to finally reach his goals, whatever they were this time. And Babble was probably their henchmen.

It all hung on one thing, whether Babble’s notebook was magical or not.

And so, while Twilight showed the kid around within the horse stables, the kid had left their bag, which they normally guarded like their life depended on it, which probably was true if Legend’s suspicions were correct, unattended.

And so Legend sneaked to the bag and he was about to open it, when suddenly something like guilt seemed to crash into him. What if he was just paranoid? What if all of his suspicions were incorrect? Then he would not only have invaded Babble’s privacy wrongly not only once, but twice and would have treated the kid like a spy unnecessarily, which was not only wrong, but cruel. Legend knew how it felt to be wrongly accused and he knew it was horribly.

So goddesses trice damnit, he had to be right, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself. He had to be right about this and about protecting the other Links in that way because they had become his family, whether he liked it or not and so he had to protect them when they were too unaware of what was really going on to protect themselves.

And so Legend steeled his resolve and dove through the bag that belonged to Babble. And then his fingers only brushed the notebook and he was almost blown over by the power radiating from it. He fished it out, eyes wide.

He had been right! Babble was a spy! There was the proof in form of this magical notebook right there!

Hastily he opened it, ready to read through what secret messages Babble, the spy, the traitor, had sent through magical notebooks to sell them out.

He was never as glad to have listened in with Four’s language lessons and also always listening close to whatever Babble was saying, thus effectively learning a lot of their strange language. Because their alphabets were the same it should be fairly easy to decipher what was written there.

Legend didn’t hear Babble’s shocked shout of alarm or Twilights angered: “Legend, what the heck?”

He only held on tight to the page while the book was tried to be wrestled out of his grip, so he may read it.

And the moment he had finally decoded the headline, there was the loud sound of ripping papers.

Rip went the page.

Rip went Legend’s somewhat unburdened consciousness.

And while Legend stared horrified at Babble, who had regained their notebook but had fallen due to the backlash headfirst into a mist dump, the now severed and crumbled page still announced with unmistakenly clarity: “HOW TO SURVIVE”.

…

Someone had taken the page from Legend and had dumped it together with Babble’s innocently used but still for some strange reason ridiculously powerful magical notebook back in their bag which had been safely stored away to a place unknown to Legend. Babble had been led away dirty and understandably angry by Malon to take a bath and thankfully change into some lended fresh underwear and their newly purchased clean clothes.

And Legend himself was marched to the main house and seated like an accused in front of a judge at the kitchen table.

But none of the silent or loudly spoken accusations were as drowning as Legend’s own guilt. He should have known better, shouldn’t he? When had his paranoia become so bad that even innocent unknowing persons that were suddenly thrown in into something way over their head turned to possible would be murderers?

All these questions that Legend had, had probably innocent reasons or reasons that Babble themselves didn’t know. All these things that were suspicious apparently were just part of a greater game in which Babble was only another play figure that desperately tried to survive, unaware of their true calls or powers they held.

Legend felt, to sum it up, like the lowest scum of earth.

And so he confessed.

While the other’s faces were judgmental, Time’s was simply impassive. He listened quietly even as the others angrily sneered or disappointedly watched while Legend explained his suspicions and the evidence he had collected – the unanswered questions, only leaving out the hidden additional reason that was the unknown origin of the mystery that was the Ballad of the Wind Fish.

And when he had finished, he fell into silence and while it was still tense there was now also understanding on some of the other’s faces.

And so Time finally spoke up after exchanging a quiet glance with Malon: “While your motivations were right, your actions were detestable. You should go and apologize to Babble.”

Face Babble after the horrid thing he had done? Legend would rather go through another whole set of quests.

But Time didn’t budge: “Go and apologize if you want to save whatever tiny bit of positive relationship you have built until then.” “Babble’s just gone outside to take a hike on Hyrule field” Malon added. “You should go and fetch them, before night breaks in and the stalchildren come out and threaten them.”

Defeated Legend stood up and left, the other’s eyes burning into his back. He closed the door quietly behind him before trudging down the slope that lead to Hyrule field.

In the setting sun he could see the small form that belonged to Babble burrowed into the cloak that Wild had gifted them stalking up and down, thus concealing the tunic they wore beneath and thus protecting everyone’s eyes. They fidgeted while walking and Legend had to admit that when he had seen the pants they had decided to buy he had first questioned their sanity for they had to itch badly, which was actually one of the reasons why Legend himself had decided to ditch trousers.

Sighing, Legend steeled himself before he jogged down to catch quietly up with them.

And just when he reached out to touch Babble’s shoulder to get their attention, it was when a wolf quietly in the distance howled to announce the fact that it was now night, suddenly the ground on which Legend and Babble stood on was no more, and so they fell, to be swallowed by darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, I must admit that this is a small cliffie.  
> Oh, remember that last vote? For the alone time? Yeah, it's starting next chapter! ^^ *evil cackling*


	23. The one where you can watch the world go dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is possible to survive the high fall from over 30 metres at landing on the surface of high deformity (snow or water). The Injury Severity Score (ISS) due to a high fall is influenced by the height from which the body has fallen, then, the body and surface features, and finally, the manner of body impact on to the surface. (Source: PubMed)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a run! Four chapters in on a row!  
> Warning: Blood, Broken Bones and all the other stuff you can get when falling unluckily from a high height. I made it not too explicit, but still, beware.

You fell. You weren’t sure for how long, but when you stopped falling, it hurt.

There are an average of 206 bones in the adult human body and you felt like you had just broken about three quarters of them. Your vision was swimming and belated you noticed that the ground beneath was getting wet and warm scarily quick.

As your vision started to dim and your eyes to flutter close, you wondered about the person that had touched your shoulder before the sudden falling started. Would they be alright? Were they still alive?

Would your family ever know where you were? Did they get your letter? You hoped.

You were so tired.

And so you watched how you and your brother played with wooden swords and your first videogames, how Zelda and you played pretend and dressed, your dad saying how proud he was of his little kiddo, your mom singing soft lullabies, your dog licking your face, your first remembered meeting with Gannon through you throwing the nuts you had collected on your way to school at schoolyard bullies that had decided to harass the new kid…

Hugs, smiles, memories of happiness and contentedness.

A nap surely couldn’t hurt, right?

…right…

…

…

_“…up…!”_

…

_“…get up!”_

…what…?

_“Stay awake! Get up, idiot! Get your idiot ass in gear, you’re not dying on me while I’m dream skyping!”_

Tired, as if lead was pulling your eyelids closed, you only managed by pure stubbornness to crack one eye halfway open. In the weakly illuminated dark stood your best friend in her pink unicorn pajamas about which you had made fun of so many times.

 _“Good, I see your eye, keep it open”_ she said and since when did she have two twin sisters?

 _“Can you open the other one?”_ Weakly you did as asked. You were so tired.

And the wet pooling beneath you was so warm and nice and you felt so cold and you just wanted sleep…

 _“Uhuh, you’re not doing that. Eyes to me”_ Zelda ordered. Weakly you let your dimming gaze drift to her once more. She looked like a ghost, glowing and see-through. How had she come here?

“…tired…” you breathe out. _“I know”_ she said, shaking. The world is dimming again, when she adds: _“But you cannot sleep, not now.”_

“…hurts…” you mutter. _“I know”_ she said, wincing. The pain is slowly fading as is every other sensation, when she adds: _“But you have to pull through, please.”_

She’s desperate and begging and Zelda never begged. She was too proud for that. This was the moment when you knew that you were in really, really deep sh*t.

Is this what dying feels like?

 _“Stay awake!”_ Zelda repeated, desperate. _“This might be a dream for me, but it seems real for you, so you’re not dying with me on watch!”_

Her sleep tussled up wild mane whips around her head while she frantically searches for a way out for you, a way other than death. And her eyes find the solution in the form of the unlucky person that fell with you down to wherever here is.

Wow, they fell even unluckier than you fell which means if their bloody heap is still breathing it would be a miracle.

You were still tired, but the pain had finally stopped. Was this the famous last rebellion of mind and body before death claimed them?

 _“Their pockets! Get your ass into gear and search their pockets”_ Zelda urged. You don’t dare to look down at where your legs were supposed to be when you drag yourself one-armed to the other person’s blood puddle, because you can’t move the other one..

“…ain’t right” you complain, as you start searching their tunic’s pockets. _“You dying is worse”_ snapped Zelda, uncaring for your moral philosophies at this moment. _“Also you had no problem pickpocketing Ga(she choked at the second n)non for his lighters.”_

“…was for…his health…” _“Well, this is for yours.”_

Your hands grasp around a bottle and you pull it out, just as the world starts to dim for a final time. You uncork the bottle, pray and take a big gulp.

The world goes dark with the frantic cries of a woman’s voice ringing in your ears until those go quiet, too, and you know no more.

…

…

…

You blink your eyes open in the weak light that illuminated wherever you were. Everything hurts, but you are still breathing. Which is a miracle. Weakly you turn to your back and sit up and your head starts spinning.

Next to you lies a bottle that is mostly empty but still has some weirdly colored potion in it.

You look down on yourself and realize that your stupid, eye-catching, blinding yellow tunic is actually the light source and the only reason you can see anything at all currently. Which is unexpected, but neat.

Next to you lies the one person you wouldn’t have expected to follow you after everything that had happened between you two. You stare at deathly pale face and bloodied blonde and pink hair and wonder how after such a fall and unlucky landing he’s still breathing. Maybe because he has, metaphorically speaking, more hearts than you? Possible.

When you force his mouth open and get the little rest of potion down his throat, you refuse to look anywhere else lest you see how near death he truly is and start shaking so much that you waste one more of the few precious drops left. One of them could decide about life and death, you realize.

You can only wonder if Zelda really was there, or if it was simply an illusion made of your mind ensuring your survival. You wonder if it was, why your mind didn’t show you your brother then. He had been the one who had always tried to keep you safe while Zelda was the one to get you in trouble.

Maybe because you’re in a fanfictional world of Legend of Zelda and she’s named Zelda. Maybe.

And cause you’re here from apparently down the timeline. Who knows how that actually worked.

When you force yourself to your feet, you nearly fall over again. Your head is spinning, your legs shaking, and everything just hurts.

But it doesn’t seem like you’re bleeding anymore. And your bones do not feel broken anymore, which was good, but you also knew you needed to get out of here, because you were still definitely concussed. You had to find the others. You had to get out.

Staring at the fallen Link you wondered how you, without magical protection had managed to survive. It was almost like it had followed your survival list…

…

Oh no, your survival list.

HOW TO SURVIVE – 1. Always stay with at least on Link at a time.

You followed it, didn’t you? Had a Link with you when you fell. And you survived.

It was proof and showed that the stupid notebook definitely was stupidly powerful magic. And apparently it works no matter how you formulate what you write, your formulations only influence when it happens.

Which is neat to know, but still sucks cause it now twisted your notes into the bad luck of having two barely breathing bloody heaps instead of one not-breathing, which was a good thing.

…

Okay, one moment, please, think.

Hyrule tripped, bad luck. Legend got hugged, good thing.

A fly flies into Warriors’ eyes, bad luck. Warriors blinks, good thing.

The postman got a lot of stress with the portals and has to learn every language, bad luck. The postman understood you and you could thus send a letter home to communicate, good thing.

You fell and got hurt together with Legend, bad luck. You both survived, good thing.

Okay, you could definitely see a trend there.

It was a good thing you survived. And though it is a little bit mean to admit, good that it had been Legend instead of any of the other Links. You could bet that the hoarder was the only one that left a potion hidden within his clothes when he left his bag behind to get you.

You also regretted not having your bag with you, either. Your notebook, as twisting as it is, would be damn useful and this was definitely a real emergency, which qualified it for getting used.

Well, can’t change that now. Guess you’ll have to do with what had been given to you and follow your survival list.

Now you only had to get you both out of here together without getting separated and it basically guarantees your survival. That’s promising.

You totally can do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, new poll, cuz I'm curious: Which one of my "OC"s so far did you like the most? Here's the link: https://strawpoll.com/kcwcb73g The winner might get some more screen time soon!


	24. The one where you are the light in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Down in the dark tunnels, your tunic never shone brighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5 of daily updates. I'm slowly getting tired. Guess this will be the last one in a row for now.

You totally cannot do this.

Dragging your bruised and beaten body somewhere else is bad enough but having to do so with another person on top, who is also unconscious and may not be jostled too much cause most of his bones are probably broken and he’s still slightly bleeding.

But his breath is in your neck as you drag him piggy-back as best as you can, and that alone is something you can be very thankful for. And so you gritted your teeth and carry on as best as you could.

Your tunic is the only thing that’s lightening the path in the dark and you were never more thankful for your entirely impulsive reaction of buying it. Your pants on the other hand are still itching horribly, but now that the fabric is soaked with blood it’s a lot more tolerable, also it’s a lot less irritating than the hurt from your body, though you’re not quite sure if you should be that happy over that statement.

But neither the less you continue your track through the dark, moisty underground, Legend still understandably out cold piggyback. And that guy should for his size truly be heavier, he was laughably light. He may hate you all he wants and snoop through your stuff (which you still were miffed about) but as soon as you’re up on the surface again from where ever you were right now, you were going to force food down his throat. Being that light couldn’t be healthy, even though right now it was better as if he had been normal weight.

Or maybe it was just the blood loss. Okay, that “just” did so not fit in there.

And there you saw your own lightheadedness from blood loss and your concussion. Great.

And where the duck were you anyway?

These stone tunnels were definitely human made (or whatever else humanoid species), so your current running theory was that you had fallen into something from the Sheikahs. In Ocarina of Time they had the Shadow Temple after all for their secret bloody past and you honestly were surprised if that was the only secret dungeon they had built. And honestly, tunnels all under Hyrule would be really practical to get secretly everywhere. They’d just have to blind their enemies by throwing one of their nuts, slip into the nearest hole leading into their passageways and “zoom” gone.

It would honestly make a lot of sense but would also throw open the question of how you had ended up in their hallways and if it was a normal entrance how they survived such falls. Maybe where you had ended up was a misfunctioned trap? It sure as heck was pretty deadly if you hadn’t had a freaky notebook on your side.

Well, can’t change that now. Now you only had to hope to get out of here as fast as possibly alive.

The rustling of something was the only warning you got to get the duck out of your head and back into reality when suddenly a man-sized spider fell from the ceiling, you barely stumbling out of the way of its surprise-attack.

Well, sh*t.

You were lucky you didn’t have a spider phobia like your mom and brother who’d have probably fainted upon seeing it.

The games had sadly not exaggerated with the size of those beasts. But luckily Skulltullas were usually pretty easy if you’ve got a weapon and they didn’t manage to sneak-attack upon you.

You managed to escape their first attack, so yeay, point for you!

You do not have a weapon though, so not so yeay anymore. The point gets retracted.

Carefully you place Legend on the ground away from the spider so he’s not in the way of the next stupid thing you plan to do.

You wait until the stupid monster turns its back to you before you deliver a swift kick to its vulnerable backside. The monster quickly whirls around and one of its spiky legs manages to scratch you on your attacking leg before you retreat. And gosh, it hurts and great your trouser now got holes and you’re bleeding again. This sucks.

Okay, seeing as kicking won’t do it, you’ll have to find another way to hurt the damn thing. Looking around while pressing the cloak against the wound firmly to stop the bleeding, you see a few loose stones lying around on the floor. Well, this is utterly suboptimal, but you’d take it.

As soon as your bleeding had stopped you pick them up.

And then painstakingly throw one of them each time the monster turns its back to you. It takes eight throws until the Skulltulla finally dies. And once the monster is finally gone - you can’t believe your eyes – of all things to appear it’s a little heart, just like in the videogames.

You blink in disbelief and rub your eyes, but the little heart is still there. Okay, that’s neat.

You turn to take it, but then you remember that there’s someone who needs it more than you do. Legend’s still out cold and slightly bleeding when you pick up and then carry him over to the heart where you put him on the ground above the heart. Fascinated you watch as it disappears upon being touched and see how the bleeding finally ceases.

And then the next miracle happens.

Legend’s eyes start to flutter, and he begins to probably curse under his breath before he finally opens his eyes. The hero looks like shit but he’s at least finally awake again.

And then he opens his eyes before promptly squeezing them shut again when he’s greeted with the bright light that comes from your tunic. A groan escapes him, and he holds his head that’s probably pounding. Poor guy, even though he probably deserves it after the sh*t he pulled.

“Good morning” you greet overly cheerly. “Slept well? I certainly hope so!”

He opens one eye again halfway to glare at you before promptly asking: “Where the duck are we?”

“Language” you chide dramatically, and he opens his second eye to use it to glare completely at you.

And then your brain screeches to a halt when you finally register his words.

You almost fall over in shock, before catching yourself: “Wait, woah, time out! Did you just talk English?”

“If that’s what your sh*tty language is called, yes” he snarks, before trying to get up, which - looking at his legs - is one of the worst ideas in the history of ever.

“Woah, woah, Mister, what are you doing?” you exclaim and firmly grab his shoulders to stop his attempts. He slaps your hands away annoyed: “Standing up, what else, horsehead?!”

“Not in your condition and not on my watch” you stated firmly and crossed your arms. “I didn’t drag your bloody carcass all the way here so you can mutilate yourself. And what did you just call me?”

“Horsehead” he replies calmly, as if talking over the weather. “Because I do not know the word for the grey and small horses in your language.”

You sputter with anger while he searches within his tunic for something. And then he pulls out the now empty bottle that had saved your lives before. Wide eyed he stares at it for a moment slack jawed at it before his gaze snaps to you and he starts cursing in probably colorful Hylian.

You take the tirade with the grace of a beton wall, utterly unmoved.

“You done?” you ask when he stops for breath. He glares at you.

“I do not know when or how you learned as much English as you did…” “I listened” “…and where you learned all these curse words…” “Have you listened to yourself when you think out loud?” “…but I do know that none of these probably very nasty words that you just threw at my head in Hylian are appropriate for me. Because if I hadn’t taken what was inside that bottle both of us would now be dead.”

That stops him big time. He pauses and his eyes flicker between you, still obviously bruised and battered and the empty bottle. You want to know what he’s thinking, but you can’t and so you simply wait. Then he sighs and puts it away.

A beat passes.

“Okay, I take it that this probably saved my life and yours” he finally states. “But how am I supposed to get out of here if I still can’t walk?”

“Easy” you state, a grin slowly settling on your face. “Your legs might still be a broken mess but mine aren’t. I’m gonna carry you just like I did before.”

“No way in ducking hell” he exclaims, the thought alone bruising his pride and painting his ears a nice shade of pink, coincidently the same color as his hair streak.

“No discussion” you simply say, getting down and turning your back to him. “Hop on, bunny, or do you wanna stay here for the rest of forever?”

He sputters at your statement but finally complies, wincing at every movement his legs accidently make. Once postured you get back to your full height and continue your track.

Quiet, only your steps and the heavy breathing of the both of you, seeing as you both were still in pain. The invincible dark in front of you continues, the manmade tunnels sheer endless.

“Where is here anyway?” he questions. “I dunno” you answer. He snorts annoyed.

“Why do you have a magic notebook?” he continues his inquiries. “I dunno” you reply. And it’s the truth. His eyeroll is so exaggerated that its almost audible.

“How do you know all these things?” he interrogates. But before you can answer, he adds in a sniding tone: “Let me guess: You dunno?” “Nope” you retort with as much sass as you can muster while popping the p. “It’s a secret.”

His overdramatic groan causes a grin to slip on your face.

Maybe things were not as hopeless as they seemed right now. As long as you had your light shining bright, you would continue to brave the dark.


	25. The one where you solve your first puzzle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a locked door and no key in sight. What to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't mind me, I'm currently squealing with pure happiness. This fic now got fanart!!!  
> Big, huge, gigantic shoutout to @Agent3Novi for making these beautiful, amazing, stunning pieces of art!  
> Here are the Links:   
> 1) https://sweetheartdj13.tumblr.com/post/617878414606614528/hey-little-waterboiler-idk-if-you-got-that-anon  
> 2) https://sweetheartdj13.tumblr.com/post/618024214342107136/hey-little-waterboiler-its-part-twoooooooo  
> I'm in love and just can't stop grinning, so don't mind me! ^^

There was a locked door. That was not a problem per se, it just needlessly complicated things.

“I told you, when that crossroad came, we should have gone left” Legend snarked from your back. You quietly cursed under your breath before answering: “That’s not how things normally work. And we had a fifty-fifty chance.”

“In which you didn’t listen to me” he added. “So what, you were not doing the walking” you bit back.

“I would have if you would have let me” he retorted. “In your current condition?” you snorted in dark humor. “Were you to use your legs, that’d be their end. Well be my guest, become fitting to your name Mr. Leg-End”

“Was that a pun on my name? If so, it’s bad” Legend commented dryly, his face probably twisting into a grimace and you snorted again. Guess that’s five to four for you. Not that either of you ever had vocally admitted defeat in your little bickerings.

“So what to do now?” you voiced. “How should I know?” he commented. “You’re the one with too many dungeons to count under his belt, you tell me. I’m just the dimensionally displaced kid” you admitted calmly, too calm for a dimensionally displaced kid that was currently stuck somewhere deep underground that could be full of death traps for all that you knew, but neither of you voiced it.

“How about listening to what I say for starters?” Legend muttered and you wished you could turn to him to give him your best death glare. It was nothing against his, but still better than nothing. So instead you gave an overdramatic groan while whipping slightly back and forth, thus jostling him slightly, which in turn caused him to hiss under his breath. Ha, served him right.

“No fair” he grumbled and then quietened for a moment, before finally commenting: “Well, the door is locked so there’s gotta be a key. Find another room, find the key, open door, easy.”

“Well then” you sass. “Where is another room then, Mr. Veteran? I don’t see any doors, do you? Or are they hidden?”

“My guess is hidden. Try standing on that obnoxiously huge and not overlookable – which you apparently have overlooked - rock over there, I think it might be a …” “Switch?” “…switch to unhide the next room.”

You did as suggested, and truly an opening in the wall appeared.

Touché, Bunny. Five to Five.

But when you went to get off and towards the singly door, the switch deactivated, and the wall slid closed again. Well, sh*t.

You paused, unsure of what to do next. On one hand it was clear what you had to do now, on the other hand it meant leaving your guaranteed survival behind. Legend seemed to notice your hesitation: “Hey, dimensionally displaced kid to Hyrule! Do you compete?”

“Stop using my phrases” you snided, snapping out of your head. He probably give you a sharp grin, full of teeth: “Why should I, they’re the only good thing you’ve given me so far.”

“What about all the headaches I gave you, while you tried to solve the mystery that I am in vain?” you asked overdramatically. “Where they for naught?”

“Stop messing around” he only commented, probably still bitter over the fact that you wouldn’t give a straight answer. “You’re behaving too much like someone else I know right now.” You chuckled at that and then slid him off your back onto the switch, thus reactivating it.

“You mean Ravio?” you voiced and took great delight in seeing Legend’s gaping face, before he quickly got himself back under control: “I’m not gonna ask, cuz let me guess: it’s a secret?”

“Exact” pronounced, before turning and facing the newly formed entrance, where you pause.

Again Legend seemed to manage to read your hesitation like a book: “You know, I’m not going anywhere, because if I could, you would be sitting right here, and I’d be going in there.”

“Like hell you would. You’d first have to knock me out in order for me to stay here, all alone in the dark” you answered, turning back to him, before pausing. Legend was bowed into himself and was working his right foot free from his boot.

“Need help?” you asked carefully. “Nope” he replied and then with a grimace finished the deed of pulling his foot free. Then he proceeded to rummage in the boot before pulling out a dagger and holding it out for you to take.

You gaped for a moment at it before voicing quietly: “Don’t you need that yourself?” He shrugged simply before answering: “I’ve got another one in the other. Also you take your damned tunic with you, so it’s not like it’d do me much in the dark. So take it, or so help me I’m gonna go in there myself.”

Tenderly you took the offered weapon. Its blade was about as long as your hand and its handle was wrapped with simple brown leather. It was so small and yet it showed so much. It showed that you had to get out of your comfort zone, it showed that even Legend had placed his trust in you. It showed that this was the beginning of your own adventure whether you liked it or not.

“Thank you” you voiced quietly.

“You too” he gave back.

You nodded and then you turned away and started your track down the dark stone tunnel, Legend’s form soon swallowed by the darkness behind you. You were all alone and this time you had no notebook guaranteeing your survival. Was this how all the heroes had felt when they had started their first journey? Knowing their own lives were for saving the lives of others on the line?

How brave, how courageous does someone have to be to do this out of free will?

Spirit of the Hero, the incarnation of courage, duh.

You snorted bitterly, dryly and almost fell when suddenly the tunnel ended. Stumbling back you noticed that the tunnel had opened up into a large cavern, so large that the bright glow from your tunic couldn’t even light it the slightest. And the only way down was a simple wooden ladder, that seemed like it would break if a feather landed on it. You couldn’t even see the ground.

But seeing as you didn’t have another choice you take a deep breath to calm yourself. “Be courageous” you told yourself. “You can do this. You’ve done this a lot of times in the games. This is still Legend of Zelda. The ladders won’t break if you step on them, no matter what they look like. This is just another game, with the simple special feature that there won’t be a Game Over screen. This is fine, you can do this.”

Then taking another deep breath, you stepped your first foot on the ladder. The old wood groaned in protest but didn’t break. The second foot followed. The damn thing held.

Sighing in relief you started to carefully descend, freezing at every loud sound the ladder made. You didn’t count the time. But when your feet finally touched firm ground again, you would have almost kneeled down and kissed it. You just barely managed to suppress that urge, when looking at the floor and seeing how dirty it was. Here hadn’t been anyone in ages, which meant that here probably wasn’t a key. Which meant that everything you had managed so far had been for nothing. Damn.

You gasped when you heard a sound you had heard in a lot of Zelda games. At the last second you dodged the monster hand that had fallen from the ceiling. Well, shit. Springing forward, your bruised and battered body groaned in protest, while you buried your dagger in the Wandmaster, before pulling it out and hitting it again and again until the thing finally dissolved into smoke, leaving nothing behind.

You were left kneeling there, a hysterical laugh escaping you. You were absolutely royally ducked, weren’t you? You were so not ready for this. The first step into this new room and already the first attempt on your life.

You should probably just give up, head back up and search for another way. You were so not made for this. There had to be a peaceful way. Hopefully. Or probably not.

But…Legend now depended on you, didn’t he? Were you really ready to give up already?

The dagger in your hand caught the light of your tunic and threw it further away onto a stone, which reflected it against a wall and there was a sound and then suddenly a gigantic flower shot out of the earth and you barely managed to roll out of the way in time, it’s flowery jaws clamped shut around the air where you had just been. Horrified you scrambled back. With the flower now blocking your exit there was no way for you to get back without first defeating it.

What had just happened? Breathing hard you looked around and realized that there was more than just one of these reflective stones, there were four. And they all pointed into different directions, thus reflecting the light somewhere else, which meant it would probably booby trap it there, too.

This was a puzzle! A dangerous puzzle in which one step would send monsters at you!

Carefully, not wanting a repeat from earlier, you wrapped your cloak firmly around you, thus dimming the light coming from you. Carefully you skidded around the room, searching for a sign of where the light was supposed to go, seeing as there were a lot of places where it was not supposed to be.

On one wall you found a sealed hole and on the other side of the room, there was a switch which opened the hole. After killing the Skulltulla that thought it was funny to place herself above the switch and bite you in an arm (ouch) with the dagger, you started to drag the stupidly heavy reflecting stones into a fitting position. So in the end the four stones reflected the light coming from your tunic while you stood on the switch into the then opened hole. And you only got the direction wrong once and had to deal with a Floormaster, aka hand of doom 2.0, which was a definite success in your books.

Another telltale sound was heard and turning into the direction it had come from you could watch in fascination as a treasure chest appeared in the middle of the four stones. Carefully you hid the light from your tunic beneath your cloak once more to not activate accidently another trap and made your way across the room to it.

Staring at the old wood you felt giddiness rise within you. This was it! Your first puzzle and your first treasure chest! You were so excited!

Quickly you opened the chest and took out what was within and it was…

…not a key. Man, this was disappointing.

What you had fished out was a simple old, worn and old brown leather girdle on which was placed a small just as leathery and worn bag, about the size of two fists. Curious you opened the bag and found within the finally a key. A sigh of relief escaped you and you placed the key back in the bag, before closing it. Then you placed the girdle around your tunic on the height of your hips and started your way back.

The monster flower that was still in the way of the ladder was dealt with by crushing it with one of the reflective stones. You picked nuts it left behind up and stuffed it in your newly acquired bag. Who knows when you’d need them?

Feeling much better you climbed the ladder back up and made your way back to Legend, already feeling much better. This was all dangerous but survivable. You could definitely do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here the links again if you haven't checked them out yet and send all your love because they're amazing do it right now!  
> 1) https://sweetheartdj13.tumblr.com/post/617878414606614528/hey-little-waterboiler-idk-if-you-got-that-anon  
> 2) https://sweetheartdj13.tumblr.com/post/618024214342107136/hey-little-waterboiler-its-part-twoooooooo


	26. The one where you go through your first dungeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your first dungeon. A summary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a lazy person and not ready to design a complete dungeon with a thousand traps, so just take this and enjoy.  
> Also, there's now a third fanwork (again from the amazing artist Agent3Novi), you gotta check it out! Link: https://sweetheartdj13.tumblr.com/post/618055226678738944/little-waterboiler-my-inspiration-took-me-hostage

“Where have you been so long?” complained Legend as a greeting once he had regained his eyesight from the sudden brightness that was your tunic. “Finding a key” was your dry answer while you easily fished it out of the small bag. And then you held it proudly under his nose.

His blue eyes narrowed slightly: “And where did you get that bag from?”

“A treasure chest!” you answered, more excited than probably necessary. “Of course” was his grumbled answer. “Do you know what that kind of bag that is?” “No?”

His annoyed groan was enough: “That is a specially enchanted bag so it can store a lot more than what it should. We have that kind of bag, that’s how we travel so light. You have no idea how rare these things are, do you?”

“Nope” you answered, popping the p. “But that’s neat to know.” His exaggerated eye role brought a smile to your face.

“So we do this now, or not?” you then asked, waving the key. Not waiting for an answer, you quickly crouched down and called out: “Hop on, bunny!”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!”

…

“I’d suggest you put fire on that one left.” “Ugh…”

“No, not that left, the other one! That left is clearly a trap!” “Eeep!”

…

“Goddesses, go right! And faster, that stone is coming!” “I can’t go faster, you’re too heavy!” “Then go faster! And right! Right! RIGHT!”

“…”

“Well, at least you survived. See, I’m clearly not that heavy.” “You suck royally, do you know that?” “Well, at least I don’t suck at my job as a pack mule.”

…

“PICK ME UP; GODDESSESS TRICE DAMMIT! PICK ME UP NOW THAT DUCKING THING IS COMING!”

“Sorry, I can’t hear you, Sir. Royal Rat Bunny. I’m just a stupid pack mule after all.”

“THAT’S NOT FUNNY!”

…

“Why do you have to keep calling me that?” “It’s a secret.”

…

“Do you have any family besides your uncle?” “Do I even want to know why you’re asking or how you know?”

“Well, I got my parents and an older brother. He’s super overprotective and he’d probably have an aneurism if he knew what I am doing right now. What about you, bunny?”

“I’m not answering that.” “Aww, come on. Surely you must have someone caring about you that wants to help you survive and protect you.”

“Well, I got a sister, and she knows I’m perfectly capable of surviving being on my own. Happy?”

…

“Is it just me or are the walls kinds moving?”

“Sh*t, they totally are! Get us the duck outta here now!”

…

“Sit down, now, you look like you’re ready to collapse.” “I can still go on…”

“Sit. Down. Now. I’m going to do the look out and you catch some sleep, got it? No room for discussions.”

“Why…do you care?” “You look ready to collapse and I do not want to hurt my legs any further when you do so it’s wiser to do it that way.”

“You suck, Bunny.” “You too, Babble. And now if I see your eyes open, I’m gonna knock you out myself.”

…

“Do you think the others are worried about us?” “About you? Guaranteed. Me? Nah, they know I’m capable.”

“If I were gone, would you worry?” “No way!”

…

“I’ve also got a best friend whom I consider a sister. Do you have someone like that, too?”

“Well, you somehow know about Ravio already, so I assume you know that he’s like an annoying, greedy little brother to me.”

“Aww, no, I didn’t know that! That’s so cute!”

“Then you didn’t hear anything!”

…

“Babble, kid! Get up, get out! That’s not funny! Come on, I still need you! Don’t be drowned, don’t be drowned…”

“Uhm…Legend?”

“…goddesses, now I’m hearing their voice. Did their ghost come to haunt me?”

“Uhm, Legend, you do realize I’m not dead? I never fell in there? I just climbed over it?”

“…”

“Aww, you do care. You’re such a softy, bunny.”

“Of course I do not! I was just…practicing yelling. Yeah, that’s it. And stop calling me bunny!”

…

“You’re doing amazing! Keep that good work up!”

“Duck you!” “Well, I’d rather not!”

“You suck as much as these stone pulling puzzles do!”

…

“Well, I’d tell you to duck, but because I suck, I won’t.” “Eep!”

“Well, you didn’t duck, that’s not my problem. Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Ever had a Keese stuffed down your throat? If not, you’ll soon get that one in a lifetime experience…”

…

You were sweating, covered in things you’d rather not, hungry and practically dead on your feet when you finally approached what was - if one trusted the map - the final door. At least the two of you had managed to take a drink from the underwater river with the stupidly strong currents that would surely be whoever fell inside’s death.

On your back Legend seemed hesitant: “You know, you look pretty tired. You probably should take another nap, before we face whatever is behind that door.”

“I’m not that tired. And you didn’t take a nap at all” you argued back. “Well, I only got carried around. And behind that door is probably something much stronger than everything else in this dungeon. You should really take a nap” Legend simply reasoned right back.

“Aww, you totally do care, bunny” you teased. He probably rolled his eyes, but finally didn’t deny. What a softy.

Your body tensed when you turned to the door, shaking your head: “No, I cannot wait anymore. If I hesitate anymore I’ll be weakened with hunger and thirst on top. I have to do it now.”

“You sure? Your brother would probably prefer you back in one piece.”

“I am” you lied, thinking about how few hearts you probably only had, your inventory only spanning a few wooden sticks, a few nuts, a lot of stones and a tiny dagger. You had mastered this dungeon so far only by sheer luck, stubbornness and Legend’s halfway helpful tips. Those three were practically useless in a real boss fight.

Legend probably sensed your lie but decided not to comment. What fragile trust there was in your abilities would be easily shattered with the wrong words. And so he wordlessly nodded and together, you carrying him, you stepped through the door to the boss room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the link for the third artwork again for those who haven't seen yet: https://sweetheartdj13.tumblr.com/post/618055226678738944/little-waterboiler-my-inspiration-took-me-hostage
> 
> Also in the next two months I'm going to have to study a lot more for tests for university so my limited time will be even more shortened. I'll still try to update as much as I can, of course, but if I'm not updating as much and fast as usual, don't worry, I'm fine just studying a lot. ^^   
> Read you all next time!


	27. The one where you beat your first boss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But then suddenly you heard with heavy steps something big approaching. It sounded like it was metal that was being dragged over the dark marble floor. And then the boss stepped into the light that your tunic cast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I didn't really have much time to write and will probably continue to not have much time to write for the next two months. So for now have fun with this chapter, that ended up waaay longer than I had planned.  
> Warnings: Blood, Injuries, Death

As expected, the door fell shut behind you.

And then you looked forward and saw something truly terrifying.

It was a big room, the walls ornamented and tall pillars reaching until the ceiling. It was just as expected just as dark as most of the rest of the dungeon. Pretty pots decorated the sides and you felt hope rise within you.

But then suddenly you heard with heavy steps something big approaching. It sounded like it was metal that was being dragged over the dark marble floor. And then the boss stepped into the light that your tunic cast.

Iron Knuckles themselves were horrible enemies. One hit with their gigantic weapon and one looses four hearts. But they were slow until you relieve them from their heavy armor and then they’re really fast, but more receptible to damage.

But this boss in front of you not only was a much bigger version than the usual Iron Knuckle found within Time’s games, but also seemed his armor lighter and it was therefore more agile. The ax in its hands was with staff about as long as you were tall and the double headed ax head was about as wide as both of your arm lengths combined. It was truly terrifying.

And the monster, instead of unmoving until attacked like in the videogames, was already coming straight at you. You practically dropped Legend, before quickly pulling your dagger and running away from where you left him to guide the monster away.

As expected, it quickly followed, swinging it’s ax as soon as it deemed you near enough. You hid behind one of the many pillars in the room while it smashed another one easily.

You knew some people who sometimes dreamily sighed of how boring their lives were and how they’d rather be in some fantasy world. Heck, your friends and you had jokily talked through different scenarios of something like that happening. And as a kid you were a firm believer that someday surely something would come and sweep you away to your adventure.

How foolish children truly were, their minds not able to imagine the true horrors such a wish could bring. There’s a saying, be careful what you wish for. Oh, little you never would have imagined something like that.

The dungeon itself was scary and hard and you got hurt more often than you wanted to count. But none of these dangers could compare with your current situation, now it was either kill or be killed.

This was utterly real and it felt absolutely horrible.

You dodged at the last second another swing and watched horrified how it took out the pillar behind which you had just hidden. These swings were absolutely deadly and would take definitely more than just four hearts.

And how many hearts did you have? Could you even survive one of these swings?

In the games Link didn’t show signs of fatigue until he was down to three hearts. What did that mean for you? How can you survive such a monster, you were only human after all!

Brushing the sweat and dust from your forehead, you brushed against your now long and pointy ears. Stiffening you then remembered that at the moment you weren’t only human. You were Hylian and from you had seen so far, they were much more durable.

So you had a chance and if you were not using it correctly, you’d just die. There were no fairies to heal you, no game over screens to reload. You only had this one chance.

The boss was fast, but you were smaller, agiler, and faster. You had to use your advantages.

You sprinted and dodged another swing before quickly turning around and burying your dagger in the place where the armor pieces met. Then you dashed away, while the monster screamed enraged and swung its gigantic weapon. Then you slipped around it and hit it at the same point, before dashing away.

Rise, rinse repeat. And it worked.

At least, until suddenly the armor gave in and fell away, the monster twisting around in pain and in an unexpected cheat punching you with a free hand, catapulting you across the room against a pillar, quickly stepping after you, while you sat there dizzy and bleeding from a headwound.

And when it swung you barely dodged under the attack. But there was the sound of breaking stones and you nearly lost your just regained footing when you realized one of your feet was stuck.

And the monster already lifted its weapon over its head once more.

Desperate you tried to work yourself free, only to realize that these stones were too heavy for you to lift. Was this it? You could try to avoid the swing, but it would surely still take your stuck leg off. And what then? You wouldn’t be able to run.

The ax came down and you looked in horrified fascination how it gleamed and reflected red and pink and…

There was the cling of metal meeting metal as a dagger met the hilt of the ax and forced it back up, it’s wielders power bracelet lighting up while strength cursed through the hero’s whole being. Legend’s teeth were gritted in pain and concentration, his face scrunched up in a grimace, his lags painted in purple and blue colors, the bones apparently not broken anymore but still painful enough just to stand. A glance around the room showed every single pot smashed to pieces, their innards now saving your life in a way you wouldn’t have expected.

Legend forced the axe to come down away from you and then quickly slipped the dagger into the space that you had worked free, before giving you a small nod, slipping his power bracelet off to give to you and then skipping away as the monster followed him enraged.

Well, of course he still had to have a power bracelet. That rat had just not deemed it necessary enough to give to you, leaving you to carry him by your own strength everywhere. So not cool.

Whatever, good for you, his rattiness had just saved your hide, guess you now were somewhat even.

You slipped the power bracelet on and marveled at how easily you now could lift the before unliftable stone. Carefully you slipped your foot free and stepped on it, its pain stronger than anywhere else in your body, but still bearable. This sucked.

But then there was a scream and you only lifted your head in time to see the axe brought down on the downed hero, punched by that cheating boss monster.

Red, there was red everywhere. There was nothing but red.

Someone was still screaming and there was a ringing in your ears when you saw that the monster lifted its axe again to bring down again. And it would again and again and again…

And suddenly you were on the other side of the room and jumped and held the hilt of the axe firmly as the monster wanted to bring it down again. There was red on the ax’s head and red gleamed the fire of burning hate within you.

And when the boss let go with one hand to punch you, you pulled with all your might. The power bracelet sparked and suddenly you were sitting on the floor, the ax in your hands no heavier than your backpack as both the monster and you stared dumbfolded at each other.

And then suddenly the adrenaline coursing through your veins forced your face into grin as you stood firmly on both feet, the pain fading away in a sea of red.

And then you brought the ax down and down and down with the same mercy the boss had shown: None.

You were still hitting the spot where it had been when it had long since ended up in a puff of smoke. And then suddenly a small heart appeared, bigger than the others had been.

What was this? You bowed down and let go from the axe with one hand to pick it up.

And suddenly the red receded as your body was healed and the concussion gave way to clear your thought and open you up to dawning horror.

The bloodstained ax clattered to the floor as you rushed to Legend’s side, dread pooling in your stomach until you needed to empty it. But you pushed that urge down, even as you sat in the blood pooling around Legend’s quiet and pale form, desperately searching for a pulse. There was one, weak, so weak and he was still bleeding badly.

Frantically pressing your cape against his wound, you prayed for the bleeding to stop, for the notebook to perform another miracle, anything.

And then suddenly there was person in front of you, white hair and blood-red eyes, male and muscular, a lantern to light everything around him in his hand. A Sheikah. He looked at you judgmental, then at the dying hero under your hands. And instead of doing what any decent being might have done, meaning helping, he starts calmly to speak in the same weird language, Hylian, everyone here spoke.

And of course you do not understand a word.

But that didn’t matter, because Legend was dying and you needed to save him and so you screamed at Sheikah to help you, to do anything, crying begging and desperately trying to stop the blood flow. And the Sheikah just watched coldly from a distance away, unmoving.

Your heart skipped a beat just as Legend’s breathing stopped and you know, you know there’s nothing you can do to force this man to help you…except…

Frantically you started to hum Zelda’s Lullaby, praying that the secret song of the royal family would move the Sheikah into saving Legend, for he’d think you have a connection to the royal family and because the Sheikah were loyal servants and protectors of the royal family he’d be required to helping you, finally.

He hears your humming and his eyes widen, for the first time showing emotions. You gestured frantically to Legend’s still, so still form, and with two quick steps the Sheikah is next to you and pulled out a bottle, a trapped fairy within. You cannot find it within you to pity the trapped being at that moment because at that moment there was nothing more important than restoring the life back into the fallen hero in front of you. And so the Sheikah released the pink fairy and the being flies over Legend’s still form before it disappeared in a shower of glitter.

You held your breath as you wait for Legend to finally take his next.

The Sheikah’s red eyes pierced into you but you can’t bring yourself to care.

And then Legend at last took a mighty breath that quickly started to turn into coughs as his lungs freed themselves from the blood that had run into them. Awkwardly you helped him turned to the side and patted his back as he got rid of the wrongly placed fluids.

When finally his lungs were emptied he took a mighty breath and weakly opened his eyes to look up and around: “…Babble…?”

“You’re okay…” you breathed out, emotions overflowing and then before you could stop yourself you were hugging the hero. “Oi” he brought out, as a simple halfhearted protest. But nothing more. Awkwardly he patted your back as relief flooded through you and you were sobbing and laughing all at the same time.

You had not been ready at all to see someone die right under your nose, their life slipping away unstoppable like water between your fingers, the price paid for saving you and now through a last-minute miracle the life had been restored. It was an emotional rollercoaster you had not been ready for, at all.

The Sheikah gave a few awkward coughs and you let go and scooted away from Legend, face burning. Okay, so maybe your reaction was a little extreme for technically knowing him only a few days but still it was undeniable that you two had bonded in your shared near-death experiences of your little adventure. Thank god that was probably over for now.

The Sheikah spoke something to Legend and the hero snarked directly at him, leaving the Sheikah annoyed barking back but Legend was not deterred. He got back to his feet, swaying a little due to lightheadedness from blood-loss, before walking up to the Sheikah until they were nearly nose to nose while talking a calm voice that was probably promising nonsubtly murder. The Sheikah seemed almost fearful from the smaller male, for he took half a step back, before finding his ground again and holding it but only barely.

Finally he asked something quietly, to which Legend started to cackle before answering, shortly glancing back at you. The Sheikah stuttered something at that before finally collecting himself and mumbling something to Legend. Legend gave a short nod, before turning to you: “Come, he’s finally going to show us the way outta this sh*thole.”

You nodded, numbly, getting up. Your eyes found the blood stained axe lying on the cold marble floor. You hated it so much but then you realized that maybe you could end up in another situation like this. And so you picked the huge ax up and held it, weighing it and finding it suitable for your needs.

You’d never find yourself as helpless as you had been again.

You refused to.

And so you decided to keep the weapon as a warning and a reminder and as a save for when you know if you won’t have a game over screen.

And so you held it at your side, thinking about a way to keep it that wouldn’t involve dragging it around everywhere, when suddenly the axe shrunk and disappeared like magic. Confused you turned to Legend, who was watching you and when he noticed your confused expression he explained: “The magic bag you found now stores it. If you think about it, it’ll appear again. Don’t ask how it works. It’s magic.”

You chuckled at that and then both of you, bloodied and bruised as you were but alive, followed the Sheikah as he guided you out.

“What was this dungeon anyway?” you asked Legend while you walked, figuring that he might have learned something from talking to the Sheikah. The hero gave a dry grin and snorted: “Apparently it was an ancient training ground for young Sheikah to prove themselves as mature. But because of its high mutilation and death toll it hasn’t been used in a long time. And we entered due to a broken trapdoor. You’ve got some really bad luck, you know? Imagine, if we’d gone left when I told you to go left, we’d have run into that Sheikah a lot earlier and gotten out. You really have the worst luck.”

You gulped at that and remembered what you had written in the notebook. You had wanted to get more hearts, and now you had gotten one, hadn’t you? This whole incident was then probably all your fault.

“Maybe you shouldn’t stay around me then” you meekly offered. “My bad luck nearly killed you twice.” You didn’t add that he was actually dead for a long and hard moment.

Legend eyed you as if you had just suggested to start fighting the moon before retorting: “Are you serious? That just means I’m out of training and need to get back in shape as quick as I can. Maybe staying near you will speed that process up!”

You chuckled weakly at that, feeling a lot lighter. So your newfound friend – though he’d probably rather go through another round of this dungeon than admit that out loud – wouldn’t abandon you for now. He didn’t know the whole truth yet, but his firmness about that topic at least lightened the load a little.

“What was so funny about your talk anyway?” you then asked, curious. Legend smirked: “Well, he asked how you knew a secret of the royal family – which I don’t know how you know but already know your answer to.”

“Which is?” “It’s a secret!”

At your shared laughter the Sheikah gave a nervous glance over his shoulder. Served that jerk right.

And then finally you were in the sunlight again, breathing in the fresh air and stared at the clear blue of the Hylia Lake.

“We’ve walked quite a while, let’s go back to the ranch” you suggested once you had soaked in the sight enough. “And how do you know where to go?” Legend sarcastically asked at that, crossing his arms with a slight smirk.

You chuckled, the running gag kept running, and so you started to, too: “It’s a secret!” Legend actually snorted at that but then quickly followed you.

And while your rubbish excuse was funny, the faces the other Links plus Malon made, when they saw your beaten, bruised and blood-soaked forms, were not.

As were there reactions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, the dungeon arc is finally over and I can't wait to write what comes next. *chuckling* I'm going to love it and you all are going to probably loose your minds over the next few chapters. I'm so going to enjoy this. Maybe someone can guess what comes next, because I might have made some implications in the reviews and story. *shruggs*  
> Anyway, I hope I'll get more written soon if university let's me have some time.  
> Read you all!


	28. The one where you strike a deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for some (forced) healing time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why does this feel a little filler-ish?

Disappearing was apparently a good reason to worry people. Disappearing without trace for nearly two days and then coming back beaten, bruised and blood-soaked was apparently a reason to force someone to stay inside a bed until every single scrab was healed and if one dared to even think about getting up to be tied to said bed.

It was, as a summary, a very boring next three days.

At least there were some good things. You learned for example a lot of Hylian curse words, because Legend suffered through mentioned tying up session, with which the hero definitely did not agree.

Also you could at least spend the time teaching some more English to those who wanted it. While Legend might understand you by now almost perfectly, which was to be straight utterly ridiculous by normal standards (yeah, let’s learn a new language in three – no, not years, days), but also seemed to very much annoy Four who seemed to have taken Legend’s success as a personal offence and challenge. No matter who else came to visit you and tried to spend time with you, the little hero would chase them away in his attempt to catch up with Legend’s language progress. Which was kinda funny to watch, because in the end he, Wind and Wild ended up in a three way war aboutr who got to spend time with you, which quickly turned sour when they decided to start a tug war with you as the rope in the middle.

Hyrule - who seemed to be the local nurse and was therefore not only just as possessive of you, because it seemed like you came after him in the timeline, but also of your health - was definitely not amused. You had not thought the brunette could be as scary as he was.

Anyway, even though you were stuck in bed and were not allowed to get up, with all the Links there was no minute of boredom.

Lastly, by the second day of you being stuck in bed against your will, Twilight came into your room carrying a ridiculously huge rucksack, which he placed near the door thus when it fell over it started to block the entrance. It was about as wide as he was tall and about double his height. How he even had been able to hold it was a miracle, but you figured someone who was able to wrestle a Goron should be able to carry heavier things. That did not mean you didn’t wonder why he was putting this ridiculously huge thing that took up about half the room in there.

Understanding came only when Four managed to come in also by climbing over the inconveniently placed thing and used his English language skills that were painfully acquired by a 24-hours English intense course taught by yours truly to explain: “The postman just came by. Poor man told us to give you this.” And then he handed you a letter.

And this letter described so much and yet nothing. Because how?

"To my dearest most idiotic best friend,

your this worldly existence has been taken care of.

By the way, your disappearance caused quite the ruckus cause you disappeared with nine others, who sat in the same bus as you. They’re still missing without any sign, and where the back half of the bus was there is now a gigantic black portal (and apparently that’s where the postman came out of - WTF?!). I’m glad at least you’re (somewhat) safe. Your brother was absolute ready to storm the portal. Me and Malin had to physically bind him to a chair for a few hours to get him to reconsider.

On another note: Do you have any idea how much a single one of the green rupees is worth? If I introduced them too quickly to the market I would probably crash it. On top of that their resemblance to the real Zelda rupee  😉 has blown up my ebay account. I’ve set it up to get some quick cash and put it aside for you for after university, cause I don’t need it. But I know you will and since you refuse to accept anything I gift you, we’ll just do it that way. No take-backsies, okay, you gigantic idiot?

But next time you have to promise me to take me with you, alright? I wanna be there in person and meet my fictional idols in reality (and have the possibility to drool over their real, flesh bodies instead of paper or plastic ones). You always had the better luck. T-T

By the way have you met any monsters recently? I kind of dreamed of you fighting some. It was utterly crazy and weird and it was like I was looking over your shoulder and could only comment on what you were doing. And you argued back? It was really weird. (Please, please, please tell me these were only fever dreams, cause in one of them you were kind of dying…)

Don't do anything too stupid, please? I don't want to get nightmares, action filled dreams are fine but seeing you dying for real would honestly ruin my night(it already did kind of once). So if that was you I was able to dream live stream I'm begging you not to do anything too stupid (e.g. attacking a Frosttalus with nothing but Hairspray, a Lighter and a frail mini sword). Thanks, I owe you one.

Anyway, back to topic. In the backpack is everything I could think of that you would need for the journey with the Links. Your brother helped pitch in so don't forget to thank him, too. He is taking care to calm your Homefront (your parents didn’t believe for a second our little farce that you simply had gotten sick and are now resting in my house’s private infirmary with a really contagious sickness – well at least the media bought it). When you come back your parents might or might not kill you for disappearing without a word. It all counts on his diplomatic skill.

Many hugs and don't forget to get home safe and sound

Zelda

PS: Yes, we also packed fresh underwear. Don't argue and don't be embarrassed. Both your brother and me have known you since you were in your pampers.

PPS: Babble is the best and must ironic name ever. By the time you get back home I will have made sure everyone will know of it and call you it. I hope you'll have gotten used to it by then because you'll never get rid of it again. Take it as revenge for worrying me.”

When you had finished reading, your head was spinning in relief and a thousand questions. What about the others in the bus? Had they also come to a Hyrule? Was Gannon, your friend, one of them? Was that why he had probably suddenly appeared here, in Time’s Hyrule? If so, you had to find him, really. As soon as you were allowed out of bed.

Also, how had Zelda known what had happened? You remembered her apparition in your delirious state and gulped down in fear. Had she truly been there? And you apparently had answered her? When? How did she even get there?

Your eyes widened in realization and dread pooled in your stomach as your brain started connecting the dots laid in front of you. Could it be...? No, no, it cannot. Zelda was a normal girl with zero ties into this world but her obsession with these videogames. To even think of that, you had to be delirious.

But on the other hand her oddly specific request…

NO, just no.

You refused to think about it and thus concentrated in the other questions you still needed to see answered. Because how in the world had a tiny, twig like person like the postman managed to get this ridiculously huge rucksack here through time and space? This really was commitment. Or maybe it was just simply magic, like your new additional mini bag had been. That would honestly at least make sense.

Apropos bags, you got yours back. Immediately you had taken the ripped page from our notebook out from it, taken the sole from your right trainer out, put the page in there and put the sole back on, effectively hiding the ripped page. There was no way you would ever go without that notebook again, as cursed as it was, for emergencies it had too high of potential to save your hide.

You refused to run into another situation like the one you had been in that dungeon.

Lastly you plundered the rucksack for the most important things, stashing the rest away in the magic bag. While it was nice that your family and friends had packed stunners, guns and a long list of other weapons, you had no idea how to use them and thus stashed all of them simply with the other less than useful stuff.

It was on the other hand with high pleasure that you pulled out a fresh set of clothes and a sparkly new phone. You were a bit annoyed that Zelda had just bought a new and expensive one for you without your consent, but it also felt good to feel the familiar device beneath your fingers again, especially knowing that Zelda had packed enough portable chargers to charge it for the next months. And so you plucked in the new set of headphones and simply enjoyed as familiar music grazed your ears, Zelda having taken great care in copying and pacing the data from your SD card onto the new phone, leaving you widely giggling as you played the Legend of Zelda theme song for the fifth time in a row.

It was then that Legend climbed into the room, apparently having escaped his captors and chosen to use your room as a sanctuary to escape to. But when he saw your new phone, he froze. And then he finally approached, emotions dancing his eyes.

“What is that?” he finally asked. “It looks a little like Wild’s Sheikah Slate, but it doesn’t seem the same.” “It’s not” you agreed. “It’s a phone.”

“Phone” he repeated, thoughtful. “Do you…” he stopped, pain visible within his eyes.

“Do I what?” you questioned, waiting for him to finish his thoughts.

“Do you have her song on there?” Oh, that’s why. Ouch.

“Yes” you muttered. “Would you like to hear?”

He nodded, numbly. You slid aside to make enough place for him to sit down. He sat down, quietly, heavily. You handed him your headphones and clicked play, trying to carefully assess his reaction. He tensed, and soon after he almost seemed to sink into himself. When the song was done, he ordered voicelessly: “Again.”

And so you did.

Again and again and again.

His back was turned to you and his shoulders shook, but he didn’t cry yet.

“Maybe we should stop?” you suggested carefully. This kind of masochism could not be good for his mental health.

“No” he said. “Again.”

Your fingers accidently brushed the song beneath the one you had just repeated dozens of time. Now, instead of the official English version, the not understandable version used from within the game sounded.

There was a sob and then you realized that Legend was crying, shoulders shaking, still turned away from you. He practically seemed to shatter as he sat there, listening to the music.

This could go on any longer. You stopped the music and carefully took the headphones back from Legend’s now still form. It was good that he was crying, leaving his tears to run free for once. He trusted you, you realized. But this, this could be in the long run very harmful.

Chasing dreams is fine, but not if one then proceeds to waste their life away, yearning for it.

“You can’t keep doing that” you said, laying a hand on his shoulder.

“I can” he answered, his tone betraying him. “Put it back on.”

“No” you stated, an idea coming to your mind on how to delay his self-destruction while you think of another plan. “You wanna hear this forever? Teach me Hylian and after you can listen to it for as long as you please.”

He tensed and for a moment you were afraid he might attack. But instead he wiped his face dry and nodded firmly, probably aware of the true intention behind your words.

And then Hyrule rushed into the room and spirited Legend angrily away, probably chiding him worse than Madame Pomfrey would about how unhealthily leaving his bed when he should be resting could be.

It was the morning of the fourth day, you would finally be allowed to get up and go around, when you had planned to finally start to figure out if Gannon truly had ended up here. You were just finishing packing everything either into the magical bag or your backpack, when suddenly Four stormed into the room he had shared with you and Wind for the last few days. He had his sword and shield strapped to his back and held his own bag close to him and he seemed stressed. “We’re switching! Grab everything you’ve got!” he yelled before rushing out of the room again.

“What?” you asked confused, taking your backpack and making your way downstairs.

There you saw Time and his wife having a passionate goodbye kiss, surrounded by the other Links, who were all packed up.

And then Time tensed and that was the only warning you got before your stomach turned upside down and you fell once more through time and space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always: Expect the next chapter when I've finished it. Which can be a little longer, due to university right now.  
> Can anyone guess the Hyrule they'll end up in?


	29. The one where they visit a wasteland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the timeline after Hyrule, there's a land that was abandoned by its people...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, am I glad that I had some of this chapter already pre-written. So here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy! ^^

Switching between times always was bad. Suddenly randomly switching times was always worse than doing so through a portal. It was always a nasty, headache inducing experience which Hyrule could honestly leave out. But alas, he was not as lucky, and neither were the others.

At least they had somewhat of a premature alarm system. Hyrule did not know how the Hero of Time could tell when they were about to jump worlds, but it was at least nice to have somewhat of a warning so they could at least grab their bags and not leave their equipment and weapons behind.

Next to him Twilight was also groaning in pain, as were some of the others. Four laid passend out face down in the tall gras, never being one to take the sudden jumps well, and Babble was leaned over, emptying their stomach once again, Sky hovering over them, his posture tense with pain as he mumbled soft words of support while rubbing the person’s back.

Time was the first to get back to his feet, face scrunched up as if someone had just finished pulling out his teeth one by one while taking great pleasure in breaking his bones. “Is everyone accounted for?” he asked. Numerous groans came as reply and one “Four’s out cold” from Wind.

The little sailor was dramatically stretched out on the ground, before rolling over and getting back to his feet, his young age probably one of the main factors for the lessened suffering. Warriors followed short, the captain always seemed pretty immune or used to the time-switching. Hyrule wondered why but figured if it was important, Warriors would tell them.

Speaking of, the captain looked around, cautious, before voicing: “Whose Hyrule is that? It’s not mine.”

Hyrule took that as a cue to become aware of his surroundings and not just his friends. Truly, they seemed to have landed somewhere vast and green with tall grass for as wide as their eyes could look. It reminded Hyrule to Wild’s, but the scarred hero, his face also scrunched up as he sat up, shook his head and showed his Sheikah Slate: “Not mine either.”

Various negative replies followed, leaving in the end only Hyrule, Four and of course Babble. Hyrule looked around and had to admit: “It looks a little like mine, but it seems a lot less poisoned and it doesn’t seem like here are monsters. It’s probably not mine.”

The others winced in sympathy to his neutral statement. Hyrule knew his Hyrule was run-down, but he also knew that while he and his Zeldas tried their best to rebuild, that there was still a high risk for failure and total collapse. Without much thought his eyes wandered to Babble, who was right now gulping down water as if there was no tomorrow. Poor them, their stomach really seemed to hate travelling through time.

But then, as he watched the young person handing back Sky his flask with a thankful expression on their face, a thought came to him. Dread pooled within him and he took another good look around and got the undeniable feeling of Deja Vue.

Because this lush with plant-life space reminded him strongly of one of the places where he had often travelled through. In his time there was no gras, only monsters and dead and dry earth.

Hadn’t the postman said that Babble came from a time after him? A time when there were so few Hylians left that those still there decided to leave all together hoping to survive in a better land, a better dimension under better conditions?

Hyrule spoke before he could stop himself: “What if this is Babble’s Hyrule?” Seven faces turned to look at him in surprise. He saw their faces first color in confusion and then bit by bit starting to get painted in the painful color of understanding. They all seemed to recall to vividly the words the postman had said over their newest companion. And slowly one by one they turned to Babble, who had finally found their footing again and looked surprised when everyone looked at them.

Legend stepped forward to ask the important question and Babble’s face scrunched up in thought, before they shook their head, quickly answering Legend’s inquiry. Under the watchful eyes of the other heroes, Legend turned to them to relay Babble’s answer. “They don’t know. They don’t recognize anything.” Then he snarked: “Also, didn’t we already establish that Babble’s from a whole other dimension? They wouldn’t know a stone here from another if it hit them.”

Wow, Legend really had become protective for Babble, even more so than most of them. Hyrule wondered what exactly his predecessor had gone through with Babble that he turned from being their most critical opponent to - dare he assume - overprotective friend. The problem was getting Legend to talk about whatever happened no matter when was always like trying to pull teeth and Babble had a language barrier as an additional problem to begin with, thus they had only a pretty vague idea about what happened in the time that their fellow hero and Babble had gone missing.

Anyways, now everyone was looking at Hyrule. “What?” he brought out, cheeks burning because he was embarrassed that he had gotten lost in thoughts.

“Well, you said this looked familiar” Warriors gestured around wherever they were. “There’s a higher chance of us finding anything if you were to guide us than if not. So lead the way traveler.” That made sense and so Hyrule nodded in agreement.

He took a short look around before he gestured north: “That way. In my time that way leads to castle. We should have a higher chance to fight anything if we go this way.”

And with that matter settled, the heroes and Babble started their journey once more, Twilight picking up and then carrying the still unconscious Four.

While they journeyed Legend kept close to Babble and Hyrule could hear him teaching Babble some Hylian words and phrases with moderate effectiveness and great entertainment for those in ear shot.

When Babble managed to twist from the simple sentence “I am wearing a green shirt” into the comedic mess “I idiot eaten stinky socks” Legend finally groaned in defeat and decided to call the lesson a day, his patience with Babble’s less than glorious language skills running thin. Babble looked annoyed at that and Hyrule could understand their sentiment too well, no one (except maybe Legend) could learn a new language in just a few hours.

Then Babble fished out their version of a Sheikah Slate – “They call it a phone” Legend explained shortly – and from within started to play a catchy tune. Hyrule wondered where the sound came from and how that tiny phone had managed to capture all these musicians and their instruments, but finally figured it was magic and decided to simply hope that these musicians were happy within Babble’s phone and just enjoy the music.

_(Data Daterataa…)_

Finally they reached the castle, or at least where the castle was once standing. Babble took one look at the ruins and instantly shut their phone down, the peppy music dying instantly, leaving behind ghostly quietness. Hyrule needed a moment longer to progress what he was seeing and then he was shaking.

It was silly and stupid, but until then he had honestly hoped that only some Hylians had left and not all of them. But this, this right here in front of him meant that every single bit he and his Zeldas had invested into a possible future for their Hyrule would go unnoticed, would be wasted, would be for nothing, for in the end he’d just stand in front of castle ruins once more.

Someone laid a hand of comfort on Hyrule’s shoulder and he tensed before practically melting into the comforting gesture. He might have grown up in a cave alone, might have not known things like hugs and basic human comforts until his Zeldas showed him, but by now he had learned to appreciate all of these, now he really needed this.

“This is a mess, huh?” spoke Legend. “Yeah” Hyrule agreed voicelessly.

“Feels like failing. Coming into a time you know is just after yours and seeing all the things you invested everything into being for naught. It sucks. I wish you wouldn’t have had to know this feeling.”

“Me too.”

The other heroes decided to stay silent while the two heroes of this timeline exchanged their words, the mood somber. Babble fidgeted uncomfortable with the situation and Four finally groaned and started to wake up, blinking against the dying sun: “Did I miss something or why are we staring at these ruins like someone died here?”

No one answered, because no one knew the answer to that. Because that might have as well happened here and none of them would know yet.

Four’s gaze wandered to Hyrule’s probably still pale form and his eyes widened before his face twisted into a grimace of understanding: “Sorry ‘Rule, that was insensitive of me.” “Is alright” Hyrule answered simply. Because how could the tiny hero have known?

Four tapped at Twilight’s shoulder and the strong hero let him down, the smallest hero almost stumbled at first before finding his footing again. “Thanks” he said simply, as he was handed his own bags and weapon. “I hate how these jumps always mess up my head.”

He turned his gaze towards the solemn forms of Hyrule and Legend: “I guess this one is Babble’s, huh?” Twin nods gave him everything he needed to go still and just watch as the sunset painted the ruins bloodred.

And so the heroes stood there respectfully silent until the sun had disappeared behind the horizon and the night bathed everything into darkness.

Then finally, Hyrule moved and unpacked his lantern, the other heroes following suit, Babble meanwhile simply shrugged on their bright yellow tunic. And then they all quietly continued their trek, searching for a fitting place to stay the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think its getting clearer and clearer what I plan to have happening soon. I hope you are all ready for it.  
> Kudos to those who have already figured it out.


	30. The one where you find the old man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Puzzle pieces click into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what, I'm going to try an experiment. So many authors have this thing called a schedule. I'm going to try i out so I don't burn myself out while going through examination phase. So let's try this. Updates come from now on once a week Saturdays.

Sunlight trickled onto your nose and caused you to sneeze, which quickly woke you up enough to form coherent thoughts again. Blinking, you slowly sat up from within the sleeping bag your family and friends were nice enough to send you within all the pretty much useless stuff. Looking around you saw that it was still pretty early. Briefly you wondered why you had woken up so early, but then you figured with a shrug that that time travel must have messed with your sleeping schedule.

Figuring that there was no chance for you to catch another shut eye as long as the light was out, you instead opted to get up and start your daily routine. Quickly you rolled up your sleeping bag and let the air out of your inflatable camping mattress before stashing both of them away in your magic bag, for which you never had been more grateful for. 

Then you fished out a set of fresh clothes for the day, grabbed water, soap and other toiletries and sneaked away, but not before waving good morning to the wolf on guard, who greeted you with a tail waggle. Well, Twilight would probably tell the others where you went, so you figured if you took your time and someone woke up before you came back it would be fine.

A few minutes into the nearby forest you found a small and clean stream and used it to wash away sweat and grime from the last day, before slipping into fresh clothes for the day. Then you started brushing your teeth, relishing in the familiar taste of your toothpaste.

But suddenly you heard steps behind you and so you quickly whirled around, holding your toothbrush like one would a rapier into your maybe attacker’s face.

Turns out, there had been no need to be worried, it been just a simple old man. He gasped and stumbled back in fright, before loosing his footing and falling down.

Great, now you felt like an *ss.

Quickly you put the toothbrush back into your mouth and rushed to help the old man back to his feet, while grinning apologetic like an idiot and wracking your brain for the Hylian word for “sorry”.

But as it turned out, there was no need. The man was looking at you wide eyed, until his eyes found the toothbrush still in your mouth and he stated dumbfolded: “Is that a toothbrush?”

You blinked like an idiot a few times before your brain started to catch up.

English, he spoke English.

You could do English.

“Yes” you mumbled out, quickly spitting out the mouth of toothpaste to the side, your toothbrush now within your hand again. “Sorry for that.”

“It’s quite alright, child” he chuckled, humor within his eyes. Then his gaze hardened: “I wouldn’t have pegged you as someone who carries their toothbrush everywhere with them, though. Must be good for you now, to have had it with you on that bus with you. Did you come from a sleep over?”

What?

…

Okay, gimme a minute.

…

Oh.

OH.

…

“You’re that old man with the prothesis!” you gave out, your memory finally working properly again as you recalled who had been near you in that bus, before you all had been swallowed by that first fateful portal. “You sat next to that woman with her little screaming brat! What are you doing here?!”

“Well, probably the same with you, child, being dimensionally misplaced” the old man answered, shrugging.

“You landed here?” you questioned. He nodded: “Yes, I found one of the last locals who gave me shelter for now. You should come with me, I can explain more there.” He turned to walk away, but you paused.

“Is it direly?” “No?”

“Good, then let me please finish brushing my teeth first and then gimme a hot minute to get the travelling companions, I gained while travelling through time and space. Otherwise they might get worried and raze this land down trying to find me.”

You shrugged helplessly at his horrified expression: “I’ll hopefully be able to explain later?”

Just as you had predicted, when you came back from your morning routine, the Links had woken up and started to get worried. And Twilight, apparently having felt mischievous, had conveniently forgotten to mention why you had left camp, your bag of toiletries apparently not sign enough for him to understand what you were going to do. That screamed for later payback, but for now you had higher priorities.

“I found someone from my dimension” you rushed out, once the Links had stopped fretting over you enough so that they would listen, apparently being a civilian qualified you for extra worrying sessions.

Well, that got them quiet and quickly ready, questions very much burning on their faces.

And so you led them back to where you had met the old man, finding him calmly waiting while playing with the golden ring on his right hand. He looked up when he heard your approach and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw you, followed by the Links.

His mouth flopped open a few times uselessly, before he closed it with an audible click. Then he turned to you wide-eyed: “Are these who I think they are?” “I am not sure who you think they are” you admitted, wondering if an old man like him would know videogames like Zelda.

He winked at you, before giving a big grin and then speaking the brabbled language you by now knew as Hylian. Simultaneously you had the pleasure to watch nine faces of shock before they all had different reactions. Three of them even pulling their weapons at the old man.

Quickly you went in between them: “I might have no idea what he just said, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s not a reason to kill him.”

“It’s not” Four quickly assured, posture tense. Legend added, sliding his sword back in its sheath: “But he knew instantly we are heroes.”

“What?” escaped you and you turned to the old man, a huge question mark in your face. He chuckled at that and stood up, only wobbling mildly on the loose ground that was the earth of the forest floor, before waving you all to follow him: “Come now, I’ll explain when I’ve got a proper place to sit down.”

The proper place to sit down apparently was within a wooden building which wrote in huge letters: “Post Office”. Which sadly was also apparently the only building still standing anywhere in the twenty kilometer range.

But beggars couldn’t be choosers and so once everyone was seated, the elder postman working behind his counter pointedly ignoring you all, Time firmly ordered the old man – which you luckily by now managed to somewhat understand – to talk.

The old man talked and then he turned to you, repeating himself so you may also understand: “I introduced myself to them. The closest translation to my name in English would be Heyne.”

“Why would your name need translating?” you questioned, confused. “Aren’t you from Earth, too?”

The old man, Heyne, sighed: “Well, one can phrase it that way. But born was I here and thus I am only allowed by the goddesses to use the name I was given here. Let me prove you.” And then he spat a bubble out.

Silence, your brain going into overload.

The old man smiled kindly and then turned to tell the Links who were watching you wide eyed, before turning back to you: “See? The goddesses do not like my other dimension name and so stop me from using it in their own way.”

“But…but I spat out a bubble, too, every time I tried to say my name!” you sputtered out. Heyne paused and mustered you for a moment, his eyes staying on your now pointy ears for a moment longer than probably necessary. He then closed his eyes and sighed, while massaging his temples: “Then that means that you’ve been born here and thus bear in these lands another name.”

Then he turned to one of the Links, who had asked him another question.

You were meanwhile left reeling, thoughts racing. Could what he said be true? Could you have another name, which was given you here which some weird higher force wanted you to use?

Were you really born here? All these years ago, before the postman said the survivors left Hyrule?

Was that dream you had real? Was it a memory? Had your mom really sung in Hylian?

Why had everything gone down the drain so badly that the people had to leave Hyrule behind, when now there weren’t any monsters in sight?

And why had no one ever mentioned anything regarding coming from a whole other dimension?

“What happened all these years ago?” you finally asked out loud, gaining the attention of Heyne, the Links and the postman.

Heyne sighed and then, with the help of the postman on the spaces he could not know, told the story of the dimensional refugees.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we get some history! ^^


	31. History 1: The one where they leave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> University sucks me dry.   
> Chapter is kinda short, but I guess it'll be enough to blow you all away anyway. Have fun!  
> See you next week.  
> *sways and leaves*

Hyrule always had a rich history. Hundred and thousands of myths, legends, stories and recorded events across the ages painted a vivid picture of heroism and hope, falling and rising. A promise that it’d always turn out alright in the end, no matter what. It was culture and it made people feel save, because they knew some day someone would come if they ever needed them to.

It happened a few centuries after the last hero’s death.

Monsters that had been slayed and cast away returned and the peace Hyrule had known all these years died with the people. And yet when the population started to dwindle down to only hundreds and almost all of the royal family was gone no promised hero had ever come. Soon people rapidly started to lose both hope and faith and fell into deep despair.

That was when some brave souls decided to pick up their weapons against the sheer endless enemy horde, seeing as the promised hero would not appear. And they all fell.

The once mighty country was turned into a destroyed land, wasted away and lost. And so most of the few people that were still alive decided they wanted to leave. But where to go?

And so they asked the goddesses for a path to follow, seeing as it was their fault it had come so far as they hadn’t sent a hero to save them.

A young priestess climbed day in day out for many years the steps to the highest mountain to pray for mercy for her people. And once she was born, the priestess took with her the only daughter that was left to royal bloodline.

What the people didn’t know was that the hero came whenever a forgotten goddess sent him, and the three goddesses they had been praying to all the time had no influence about when.

And so they were just as despairing as their people, because while they had incredible power, they were not omnipotent.

And the three goddesses, though they loved their people and didn’t want them to leave, realized that this was the only way for them to survive and thus decided to let them go.

Because if they continued to hesitate, in that timeline then next to none would be left and those handful of people left would soon grow old and die as most of the people already had. But at least the even fewer people left would manage to reform society from scratch as soon as the next reincarnation circle would near, the goddesses told themselves. And the people who had left would survive and maybe their descendants would someday return.

And thus to ease the goodbye from their old world and help those who left, the goddesses took an old gift, so old it had almost become forgotten by history, and returned it to their people – the Lightforce, not the Triforce, because the Triforce may never leave Hyrule lest the land shall wither and die irreversibly - and changed it slightly to help and guide the people in their new world.

When the young priestess came down from the mountain that day she clutched the young princess within her arms and the baby clutched a beautiful gold and silver book.

A book that could bent reality and open portals to even other dimensions.

The people thanked their goddesses profoundly and the leavers opened a portal with the changed book to another world, a new dimension. This dimension was close to theirs and was one of the few that would accept otherworldly travelers in it.

But halfway into the long journey, which the goddesses managed to watch due to the tunnel belonging to their influence sphere, the goddesses suddenly without warning tried to call the travelers back, but the leavers were already too far into the new universe.

And new universe was a greedy thing. It wanted to have more, more and did not want to let the travelers go, because the new universe was greedy and didn’t want to give back what it just gotten.

Thus a two-sided tug war between the goddesses and the other universe happened, all over the tunnel made by the changed Lightforce.

The priestess holding the book and guiding the travelers screamed, as did her father watching her wide eyed and panicked, trying desperately to keep the travelers in line and going forward.

Then, under the strain, the Lightforce broke into two parts, a wave of incredible magic practically catapulting the travelers into their new world, ripping apart the priestess in the process and eradicating her from existence, as her father horrified father watched.

One part stayed where the tug war had happened, keeping a small hole for the goddesses to lurk through open. They saw the new and greedy and cold universe and were appalled.

But this fight had also saved their timeline for a few years. The force released from broken Lightforce had cleaned and healed the lost land, but the goddesses also knew that after some time the dark influence would return.

And so they travelled slightly into the past to send dreams and inspirations, thus changing the other universe’s history slightly by influencing their creators, intermingling the universes forever, thus giving a tiny piece of their old world to the travelers, hoping that it may be enough to guide the lost home and thus saving this part of the timeline after all.

The second part was flung into the new universe together with the travelers, where it was quickly unchangeable ingrained into the history of the new world, the new universe, and the travelers’ memories were erased and replaced to fit their new home, as were their bodies.

Only the now dead priestess’ crying father, as he sat there, where he had been spat out clutching the second part of the light force, was spared from the change for now and vowed that her sacrifice would not be in vain and the people would get the chance to their best in this new life.

And so he travelled far away and buried the second part and as he buried the book he buried his memories as he gained a new name, a new language, a new life and lost his old one.

Because the new dimension was greedy and did not like the supernatural it erased all traces, only not succeeding in the too magical piece of the Lightforce and the space where the goddesses lurked through, supported through the other piece of the Lightforce.

It would only be many years later that a young man searching for his path in life would stumble over the buried part of the Lightforce. And he’d accidently use it to start a new series of events that would finally lead to the launch of a new beginning.

A beginning with a piece of a bus full of people falling through time and space.

Back into Hyrule.

And under these unfortunate souls was also the now aged priestess’ father, who as soon as his feet touched homeland, regained the buried memories.

And he’d look up at the heavens and curse and then he’d start finally mourning the daughter whose existence had been erased from his mind until then.

And then he’d start walking to find what was left of civilization.


	32. The one where puzzle pieces click into place

“You buried half the Lightforce in book-form in the middle of a desert where everyone can find and use it?!” Four nearly screeched, his horror coming out in a half Hylian half English garbled mess as soon as the old man had finished his story. The other Links seemed a bit put off as well at that realization, though they had not as strong reactions because in their adventures they never had to deal with the Lightforce.

Heyne nodded sheepishly: “I must admit I was not thinking straight at that moment. And something like me calls myself a scholar. I must admit, I am deeply ashamed.”

Four still seemed murderous, but at least he didn’t seem to be ready to jump at the old man any minute to gut him, instead plotting his demise in secret.

Your head was still swirling with all these new information you had received. And honestly, he had summed only the tip of the gigantic glacier up. You had no idea where to even start with getting your thoughts together.

This Hyrule apparently went down the drain because there was no new hero when they needed them to appear. So the people decided to leave through a portal made by a magic book given to them by their goddesses (and did that mean they were real? Were they watching you right now?!) but something went wrong and it broke the book in two, killed Heyne’s daughter and spit all the travelers out on the other side, Heyne with only half the book, the other half being stuck…somewhere.

And apparently on the other side they all knew instantly English and those who had pointy ears got normal ones and they all were brainwashed into not remembering their true origins, the exception being Heyne, who only got brainwashed once he got rid of his half of the book.

And now someone must have found the half of the book Heyne buried all these years ago and used it to make these portals. Well, damn.

And Heyne only got his real memories back, once he returned to Hyrule through one of these portals and while here the catastrophe is temporarily stopped, this land is still pretty much ducked cause there still was no hero.

And it did not explain why in your time you had the lore in the form of videogames, but you figured that if some overpowered higher being could make a book that can make portals to other worlds it’d probably be easy to influence some people to make up stories and games about real events (you pointedly tried to ignore the fact that there apparently really had to be some higher being that probably was reading your thoughts at this second as you thought them…maybe even influenced them? Nope, no, not going there, one identity crisis is enough for the next few years.).

Apparently the other Links had trouble digesting the events described, too, because honestly everything seemed like a bit too much. But well, this at least explained a lot.

Especially that freaky little notebook in your backpack. Broken in half meant probably half the power, so no wonder that it suddenly worked the way it did. Through bad luck doing good things.

Probably meant that the other book worked through good luck doing bad things.

Man, this was unnecessarily complicated.

And why did you have the feeling that the unfortunate soul to find the other notebook was Gannon? Gannon, who was then promptly robbed by someone, who used the book’s power for truly evil things.

That sucked.

Also, why did the interdimensional stuck notebook end up from all people in your backpack? There were enough people to choose from, even the old man would probably have been a better option.

And wait a minute, the other people…!

“What about all the other missing persons? Beside us there were eight others in the bus! If you ended up in this time and I ended in Wild’s, where did they end up?!” you brought out, worry overrunning you.

“Maybe in other times than us?” the Heyne suggested, shrugging helplessly.

Oh god, other times? There were so many! And…

…

Wait a minute, that sounded suspiciously like an interdimensional fetch quest. Great, just great. You never much liked the fetch quests in the games.

Once Heyne had finished explaining to the non-English speakers, there seemed to be a similar thought pattern, as they seemed to be torn between groaning and worrying.

Fetch quests were just the worst.

“Guess we’ll just have to go get them, then” Legend finally stated, standing up from where he sat on the floor because the post office only had like three chairs, one for the postman, Heyne and Time respectively. “Do you know where the nearest portal could be?”

Heyne shook his head: “Well, none that I know of. But postman’s heard that west from here monsters have started popping up. Maybe try going there to get a lead?”

The Links nodded and Time stood up and said something that probably translated to “You heard him! Let’s go!”

And so the travelling started anew.

But this time there was no space within your already overloaded brain to learn more Hylian or teach more English. And from the silence around you, the others seemed to battle with their own thoughts also.

And the cherry on the top of this gigantic sh*t cake was when you realized that if the notebook in your backpack really was part of that big portal making book so it was thoroughly possible that you had carried your ticket home the whole time on your back with you. Well, damn.

But before you could follow that very frustrating train of thought any further, Twilight suddenly paused, one ear lightly flickering. Okay, now you were concerned. What did Wolf-Boy hear?

And why did he hear something you others didn’t? Probably because he transformed that often, but still, unfair.

Apparently you were not the only one wondering that (the first, not second) because some of the Links, namely Time, Wild, Four and Legend had also paused to watch Twilight (well, one guess who also probably knew the furry little secret then), as the ranch hand tensed.

And then Twilight yelled something and instantly the boys pulled out their weapons and then hell already had broken loose.

There were monsters everywhere. And a lot of them oozed black blood once a weapon managed to penetrate through their tougher skin. This was no videogame. This was real and scary, and all these monsters were ridiculously strong.

They had no right to be that strong! And where did so many even come from?!

And why did they work in a formation?! When did they grow the necessary brains?!

“Down!” bellowed someone and instinctively you dropped down as a swipe of a gigantic club nearly made your brains mush. Then a sword protruded from the monster’s stomach and it turned to wispy smoke and you looked up to see Legend dirty and sweaty armed both handedly leaning over you: “You alright?” You nodded, breathlessly.

“Good” he stated, nodding firmly. “Then don’t get lost in lost in thought again. This can end deadly here. And stay near me, you’re a decent fighter but this is years beyond your experience.”

You pouted, this was totally unfair, but you could also see his point.

Especially when another smaller monster tried to attack him from behind and he didn’t even need to look behind him before decapitating it.

“Are we clear?” he asked sternly. Damn overprotective heroes. “Clear” you muttered dejected.

He gave a curt nod: “Good, then stay close and let’s see what good stuff your family send you.”

At that you perked up, got back to your feet and started to rummage in your magical bag. This was gonna be fun!

…

About two and some odd hours later it wasn’t as fun as you thought. You were tired, dirty and hurting and enemies still kept coming. A gash on your arm was bleeding through your hastily wrapped bandage and you were also bleeding in other places and hurting in even more.

Apparently on the battlefield there was no time to read a user’s manual for stunners or guns and using them without knowledge was a really, really dumb idea. Using pepperspray when wind was blowing in your direction was also pretty stupid, same goes for hastily erected flamethrowers.

At least toothpaste is very effective in temporarily blinding your enemies, though you sadly ran out of it after only two enemies.

And thus you had dropped back on your last resort: brute force.

Legend kindly had loaned you a power bracelet and so you could use the axe to cut through enemies quite efficiently. At first you had been a bit hesitant to use the heavy thing seeing as Legend’s blood had still been on its blade, but after a monster nearly took your arm off, any hesitancy died quite effectively.

You were using the axe against another club bearing monster (you had seen too many to care about which of them it was at that moment) when there was a scream and the first Link finally went down heavily wounded, another quickly running to his aid and defeating the foe.

This couldn’t go on forever, you realized.

The hordes did not stop and for the foreseeable time wouldn’t, while the time the Links would have left was already countable. You had to get away, fast. But how? You were surrounded!

Think, you had to think. You were already woozy with blood loss, but now you really had to think.

And then you realized the answer, as your brain finally rebooted, and an almost reassuring pulse came from your backpack.

“Keep me save!” you yelled to Legend and not waiting for answer you made your axe disappear into your bag, before dropping to your knees to rummage in backpack. Pulling out the notebook, you realized with dread that you had sent your pencilcase away as proof and thus did not have anything to write with because pens did apparently not count as things one needed to survive.

What now?

“A little more warning next time, please?” a voice noted above you as a heavy body fell next to you before turning to smoke. You looked up from where you were kneeling, but only slightly, because Four was pretty small. You gave a thankful nod and a quick glance to see Legend too busy fighting with a very big enemy to come aid you.

Wow, you really needed to be more thoughtful sometimes. Thank god, Four had heard you, otherwise you would have been screwed.

Four gave a short smile, his eyecolours flickering slightly before throwing himself back into battle, the Four Sword gleaming in the light of the sun and mattered with the blood of the foes.

Blood…

…

That’s it!

Wincing as the wound on your arm started bleeding more as you pulled the bandage away, you prepared yourself for the stupidity you were about to do for the greater good. Thankful for the disinfectant your friends and family send you, you dipped a finger in the fresh blood and used it to write in the notebook the sentence “We should be somewhere safe right now”, praying that your theory was right and it would happen instantly and that you had just had enough bad luck to finally get a good thing.

For a second there was nothing.

And then the blood dried, flickered and disappeared.

What…?

Then there was a whooshing sound and suddenly the ground beneath you all was glowing in a bright light.

You clutched the notebook and your backpack close and looked up to see the hate filled red eyes of the creepy inky person you had already met in the forest – Dark Link, you realized with a jump – watching you from the shadows of a gigantic monster running straight at you. His gaze seemed to pin you in place, to make you immovable, even as the nearest monster raised its sword…

And then you fell, surrounded by the heroes and only the heroes through a rainbow of light colours, the dark being’s gaze burning into you until the portal of light closed right into his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, finally. I think by now its pretty clear where they're going to end up. ^^  
> So now what I'd like to hear is what chaos you'd all like to read what they can get into. Let's give this "attempt at humor" and "crack" tags their full exploitation! ^^


	33. The one where you are finally back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the real world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, two things:  
> 1\. I finally drew an official cover for this. I'm not the best artist but I'd still like it if you'd check it out: https://66.media.tumblr.com/d701e0afecc65bd5dd004f149e730291/e22aad54281cdef9-da/s1280x1920/1808621cdfac811c263d614d53d4ef46d339f78c.jpg  
> 2\. Here's the next poll, because soon I'll need another Link to give some more screen time to (which can or cannot include bonding). Here's the link to the newest poll: https://strawpoll.de/3rc87s4

You were not sure for how long you fell, but suddenly it was over and you were spat out on hard wooden floorboards. Behind you were thumbs as the others were also spat out and in front of you gasps and shouts. And then thundering applause.

Owlishly you blinked and looked up from where you had kissed the ground. A group of amazed faces were focused on you, most of them little kids and some teenagers and their parents. And one kid had his phone out.

Well, damn.

“Delete that!” you snapped, radiating anger and annoyance while getting to your feet. The kid stared at you wide eyed, unmoving. “Now, or I’m gonna sue your pants off of you for making a video of me without my permission” you growled out, done with the kid and the gasps behind you.

That finally got the kid moving and he quickly scrambled to nod and fumble on his phone.

Satisfied you turned and gave everyone around you a quick check to make sure there were no other phones.

And then you turned to the poor carnival magician whose show you had literally crashed. “Good job, man, see you never” you said, giving a mock bow, a quick salute and a toothy grin and the shush-sign before scrambling the Links together and herding them off the stage and out of there.

While the poor guy was still gasping and gaping, you heard a gum chewing teenager muttering to another: “Wow, those effects were so fake. I could see the trap door open and close behind them.” The other nodded in agreement: “Yeah, totally. That fake blood really ruins their looks also, I’ve seen tomato juice look more realistic. And that one kid didn’t even bother to change into a costume. So lame. Honestly, this show sucks.”

You grinned inwardly but didn’t stop pushing and pulling until you were around a few corners, even as some tried to stop and gape at the attractions and rides around them. In the shadow of a building you finally stopped and took a good look at the group in front of you.

Twilight was carrying a bleeding and unconscious Wild and everyone was sweaty and bleeding from minor injuries. A lot of them were also fidgeting nervously and looking at you and around them wide eyed.

Finally Wind opened his mouth when the silence between you all got too much and stated: “What the duck?” In a nearby rollercoaster some people screamed and reflected thus your inner mental state.

You blinked, trying to process this.

Time gave a disapproving frown at Wind: “No cursing, sailor.” “I’m a goddess damned pirate and I am ducking allowed to curse all the sh*t I want” the kid snapped at that.

Okay, rewind.

Brain process restarted.

…

Well, damn.

“You’re speaking English!” you stammered out, dumbfolded. At that nine pairs of eyes turned to you, to blink.

“I guess?” Hyrule offered with a helpless shrug. You were absolutely ready to pull at your hair at that. All this time the miscommunication could have been avoided with that stupid notebook!

Also, you were back in your world, finally. This was just wow.

…

Groggily Wild chose that moment to wake up and give a fake-cheery: “So what did I miss?” To which Twilight only gave a small glare that promised a long talk about risk takings later before placing Wild back on his feet.

Alright, where was the catch? This was too much good at once.

Cue a pair of police officers patrolling. They stopped when they saw your group. And then one of the two came closer to look at you all, frowning. You tensed, ready to bolt, and with rustling behind you, you knew the Links were also.

But then the officer broke into a bright smile: “Wow, I love your cosplays, kids! What are you playing as?” Then he turned to Time: “Where did you buy them, old man?”

Time took the strange situation with graze and answered with a straight face: “I have my connections, but my wife also had a hand in mine.”

The officer nodded in understanding and asked if he may take a selfie, which you quickly declined before any of the Links could say something differently. And then thankfully the second officer pulled the first away with a fond eye role and quick apology while the other was pouting. “Stay safe, kids” the first officer reminded with a grin and then both of them were gone around the next corner.

Silence followed.

You nearly collapsed with relief. That was a bullet you dodged you really did not want a repeat of.

Brushing some hair out face, you came in contact with one of your ears. You paused, wide eyed, before quickly touching it again. It was smaller and rounder and it was what you had most of your life. You nearly cried with relief at that.

You were human again.

And looking at the fidgeting Links you realized with a start that they now were, too. This was so weird.

And well, you now understood their fidgeting, as your bladder reminded you that you were not Hylian anymore but a normal human being with a normal bladder.

Awkwardly you cleared your throat and pointed to the building in whose shadow you had fled: “Let’s just go and…find a toilet, yeah.”

This gained you nine awkward nods and then the whole group quickly marched around the building, which turned out to be a coffee shop. The girl in charge of the counter gave a quick glance at how you all were fidgeting, before giving a toothy grin: “Toilet’s only for costumers.”

“Could I just pay for us using the toilet? I’d pay one dollar per nose” you asked, rummaging in your backpack for some of your strewn around cash. The money shark shook her head and showed even more teeth, before gesturing at her overprized items: “No, only costumers.”

You narrowed your eyes at that before quickly pointing to a chocolate cookie, the cheapest thing in the shop. The cashier gave a grin before picking the smallest out of the bunch and putting it in a paperbag. “What else?” she asked sweetly. “That’s it” you bit out under the surprised gaze of the cashier.

You put the six dollars for the cookie on the counter and accepted the paperbag under the questioning gazes of everyone in the room. And then you started to methodically break the cookie into ten pieces, handing one to each of the Links and only keeping the last one for yourself under the gaze of the slack-jawed cashier.

Ah yes, victory really tasted sweet.

You gave her the sweetest smile possible while stating: “Now excuse us please, we’ll be on the toilet now.” The death glare she gave you had nothing on Legend’s.

The shop only had one toilet and thus those who needed to go direly got to go first, one after one. It was not so nice that you had to talk them through the use of toilet paper and flushing the toilet through the locked door but the horrified looks the cashier gave you was well worth it.

In the end all of you walked very relieved out of the shop and went back to your hiding place, Wind bugging you relentlessly on what he had just tasted and if he may rob the shop so he could get more.

“No!” was the general answer, no matter if the person saying it knew what chocolate was or not. Wind pouted and probably plotted robbing the shop anyway and thus a few Links decided to keep watch on him while the others discussed with you on what to do next.

And that’s when your phone decided to ring. Surprised you pulled it out and saw the grinning face of your best friend on the caller’s ID. Answering the call confused, you were immediately greeted with an enthusiastic: “Oh my gosh, you’re back! You gotta give me all the deeds!”

“What?” you brought out, ear ringing by her enthusiastic greeting. “How’d did you know?”

“I am tracking your phone of course, dummy” Zelda chuckled at that. Ah, that’d explain that. Deciding not to bother with her decision to apparently bug your new phone for now, you stated: “Alright. Do you know where I am? Cause I kinda need to find a way home.”

“Of course, don’t worry, Babble. I send Impi like half an hour ago. She should be there soon.”

“Babble?!” you sputtered out. “Yep” she hummed happily. “Gotta love that nickname. You’re not getting out of that one.”

“Not even if I brought some Links?” you suggested with a grin.

On the other side of the line there was a dull thud, quickly followed by the sounds of a lot of frantic movement.

Welp, guess she dropped the phone. What a nice reaction.

“You brought them with you!?” Zelda brought out once she had wrangled the phone back into her probably with excitement shaking hands.

“Yep” you stated with a grin, trying to ignore the weird looks the Links shot you at your one sided discussion with your phone.

“Oof, I’m so glad I send one of the bigger cars” was Zelda’s muttered answer finally.

“Big enough for ten people?” you questioned.

Muffled laugher was the answer: “Who do you think I am? Go big or go home, buddy.”

Okay, now you were concerned.

“Zel, how big?”

“You’ll see” she chuckled before promptly ending the phone call.

Annoyed you stashed the phone away before turning to your travel companions hopefully to somewhat successfully explain to them the wonder that was modern tech.

But then you realized that they were not looking at you, but at what was behind you.

“Sup, pipsqueak” Impi greeted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, here's the next poll for who gets some more screen time. Whoever wins could significantly influence what is about to happen, so keep that in mind: https://strawpoll.de/3rc87s4


	34. The one where you deal with cars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Impi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Winner of the last poll was with 13 votes Wild, Sky being second with eleven and Four third with ten. Your votes have been noted and shall start affecting the plot a little. Hope you're ready for what shall come.  
> Also I had a tough week filled with university examinations (I passed all of them so far, yeay!^^) and some are still to go and its your lovely reactions that keep me motivated and this story running. I wanted to say thanks for all kudos and reviews I have gotten so far. And even when you only clicked on my story, deciding to give it a shot, you made me happy. So thank you all so much! You are the best!

“Sup, pipsqueak” Impi greeted.

A grin nearly splitting your face in half, you took in the familiar tall figure in front of you. Long, braided white hair, almost glowing red eyes and a smart black business suit and black high heels that could be used to kill if necessary were the classical Impi look. You knew the woman and she always looked professional, even when caked in flour and eggs (she didn’t allow Zelda and you to try baking anything for two years after that one incident, though).

But for once hidden behind her cold blooded professionalism you could actually see something like relief in her eyes, especially when she calmly stated: “Good to see you’re still in one piece.”

“Aww, you do care” you gave back and she gave an amused eyeroll, her eyes flickering briefly to the Links to assert their danger levels. The near invisible slight twitch of her lips showed that her danger assessment came back successfully and with levels she did not like.

Seeing the near invisible tension building in her muscles and the resulting slight tensions of some the Links you quickly decided to interfere: “Alright, nice to see you again, Impi. Those are my new friends, and guys, that’s Impi and she’s gonna be our ride to a location where you can stay for a while.”

Okay, good, at her name a lot of Links lost some of their tension, now curiosity on their faces instead, Legend not under them. That was positive anyway and you understood why the poor veteran did not lose his tension, familiar faces are not always an indication of the person being necessarily the one they were acting as.

Welp, couldn’t change that now, or could you?

Well, actually you could.

“Would you stop calling me pipsqueak?” you gave out annoyed, watching as your whine drew a small smirk from Legend, finally the near invisible tension also fleeing him. “Never” gave Impi out calmly. “Otherwise I’d have taken your dearest friend’s bribe to only call you Babble.”

“Seriously?” you asked, fake offended. Okay, that drew a chuckle, good job.

“Yes” Impi gave blankly before turning on her heels and stalking away. “Come now, I do not want to get a ticket for stashing the car where it is.”

Shrugging, you followed.

And after only a slight hesitation the Links did so, too.

…

Okay, admittingly leading people stemming from a medieval fantasy era around a stacked carnival in order to get to the parking lot was not on the list of your brighter ideas yet.

With one hand you quickly pulled Hyrule into continuing his walking when he had stopped to stare in horrified fascination at the nearby rollercoaster while you reached with your other for Wild who had taken his Sheikah Slate out trying to capture everything within it only to realize horrified that it wouldn’t turn on.

“Welcome to the real world, buddy. Technics running on magic ain’t working here. I can feel your pain, but you must move on now. Literally” you stated calmly while pushing him back into moving.

Then you quickly reached out to snag Wind at the back of his tunic when he tried to sneak of, probably trying to rob the nearby sweets cart that had stupidly large cookies on display.

Gosh, they were supposed to be heroes right? Not a bunch of overgrown toddlers with how they were behaving!

In that moment you could totally understand Time’s pain at having to deal with all of them for who knows long.

At least Warriors and Twilight were behaving, though both country and city boy seemed hopelessly overwhelmed. And Sky seemed just short of freaking out, his breaths coming out short and raspy. Or maybe sky boy had trouble with the polluted air around you on top of being overwhelmed. That’d be a possibility, too. You’d have to talk Zelda into taking him to see a doctor about that, then.

Time seemed to be somewhat calm, as was Legend. Well, the two of them have gone through a lot of sh*tty things and surprises and time travel, so probably this was not even the cherry on top of that cake.

Four’s eyes were a light blue almost silver, seemingly vacant, and he was walking as if on auto-pilot. Yep, he was totally freaking out on the inside but because he probably couldn’t decide on the freaking out method he was simply letting it all happen. You should make sure to check in on him later, to make sure he was okay.

And so your little procession reached the parking lot, finally. Wild looked absolutely giddy at seeing the cars but many other Links did not join his enthusiasm.

Impi calmly guided you to the car and…of course, Zelda had sent a freaking limousine. A lot of kids had gathered around the sparkly silvery white car to take selfies but once they saw Impi approach with long strides, her eyes promising murder, they quickly scattered.

Impi opened the driver’s door and gave you all a cold once over: “Don’t get blood on the seats or I’ll make you clean them with your toothbrushes.”

While that threat would not be as good for the Links seeing as they probably did not possess toothbrushes, you thought they got the gist and the hesitancy they had before probably tripled. Trying to salvage the situation you quickly tried to be your best example and quickly opened the first passenger door to slip inside, Wild luckily following you directly. You didn’t question your little piece of luck before turning to the Links: “Don’t worry, this is fine, this is just like a carriage.”

Oh, that got an action. Shrugging Time moved ever the good grown-up and took to the second passenger compartment, Legend following behind, dragging a slightly protesting Wind behind him who only cared about not having gotten to rob anything.

Which left only five of the heroes standing.

Four finally seemed to have battled out his inner fight and the violet shimmer in his eyes was the only warning you got before he pointed out calmly: “If that’s a carriage, where’s the horses?”

By the additional tension of the other four, that was the wrong thing to point out. Well damn.

“Get inside smartass and see for yourself” you quipped and thank god, that slight green and blue shimmer had taken that challenge.

Which reduced the problems down to four.

Okay three, now that Sky seemed only barely conscious. He really’s gotta see a doctor about his breathing problems. He only gave half hearted mumbled protests as you quickly stepped out and helped Hyrule bring him inside the second compartment, though the poor cave kid probably would freak out later once he realized what he’d done after he’d slipped into doctor mode in his concern for his comrade.

Okay, that left two. Thank whoever cares for Wild as he managed to somehow coax Twilight inside: “Come on, Twi! Where’s your sense of adventure?” You could literally see the lupin hero gain a few grey hairs at that statement. Poor guy, but at least it reduced the number of problems to one.

Namely Warriors.

“Come on, don’t be a pussy!” Wind dared, having found the fascinating mechanic that was opening and closing the window, through opened window. “Language” came the chide of Time directly after, while the window was closed.

Warriors glared at him almost Legend worthy and you could see the conflict between survival instinct and pride that was battled out within him.

Unluckily in that moment a nearby pretty old car decided to start pretty loudly, causing a lot of the Links to flinch at the unexpectedly loud noise. And then whoever drove the ratty old thing decided they’d have to hurry and thus as soon as they were clear of their parking space decided to speed up and then they were quickly gone.

Wild next to you gave a loud and happy “whoop”, his anticipation for action only rising after that glorious display of human invention. Twilight only looked sick and Four’s hands twitched probably either for something to grab and hold onto for life or to write theories regarding the possibility of reaching a speed like that with. You did not want to know the reactions in the other compartment but looking back to Warriors you felt the blood drain from face as you saw him staring in unabashed horror to where the rusty little metal box just had been.

Sadly, for once in a Link’s life, survival instincts had won.

“Those are goddess damned monsters! No way am I going in there, never!” Well, damn.

That was the moment when luckily or unluckily, you may pick either, Impi’s patience snapped. She rolled the window down to glare at the last hero standing. You shuddered knowing too well her glare was something that could even wilt flowers so it was no surprise that even a hero of courage would flinch and cover beneath it.

“Car” she ordered calmly. “Now.”

It was a terrifying display of her power and she hadn’t even started to count down from three before Warriors folded in and snuck with a lowered head into your compartment. You closed the door and grinned inwardly knowing too well the feeling of having been bested by Impi. It was no shame really, it was a foolery to even try. As a rule of thumb Impi always won.

The limousine started gently and quickly started the music player in hope of distracting the Links in your compartment.

From the radio came the whippy song that was Pink’s “Just like Fire” and you grinned and hummed the song happily. While it seemed to loosen the tension somewhat it soon came back tenfold once Impi drove onto the highway.

And Impi totally drove a lot faster than she would usually on purpose. You could practically imagine her self-satisfied smirk while she pressed down on the gas pedal.

You looked at the horrified faces around you and the giddiness of Wild as he was practically glued to the window watching the landscape outside rush by and decided that this was going to be a long drive.


	35. The one where you get your reunions

After half an hour of horrific hell in the other compartment and relative peace in yours (the only burden was prying Wild away from the opened window and stopping him from climbing on the roof while Impi drove with 120 down the highway), Impi finally left the highway and settled for a more moderate speed on the smaller streets, leading into the region where your home was.

Relief almost drowned you when the realization hit you like a brick wall full force, you’d be home soon, finally. It was amazing. Looking around your compartment you saw the Links also look relieved, though for reasons other than yours probably, the exception being Wild who pouted at the lack of speed now.

Warriors had his eyes closed and a grimace on his face, he looked like he was praying. Twilight looked helplessly torn between overwhelmed and attentive so he might stop Wild from doing something stupid and Four was just silently muttering to himself, eyes flashing faster through different colors than you were able to differentiate them.

And then the limousine finally held in front of Zelda’s mansion. Sighing, you pried Wild away from the car’s door, unlocked the childlock and opened the door. Wild swiftly scrambled out, curiosity painting his face and you quickly followed, the others in your cabin immediately following, Warriors muttering something like “carriage of doom” and “never again”.

And then the second compartment opened.

Hyrule climbed out almost drowsily, pulling a sleepy Sky with him and Legend supported them both, his face unreadable and his hat missing for some reason. Catching your gaze he practically spat out: “Not a word.” Softie.

But when nearing to help them, you finally understood another reason why he had such a bad mood right now. The smell of vomit greeted you like a punch on the nose as Time climbed out, supporting a sickly pale looking and trembling Wind. The sailor held Legend’s missing hat in his hands, a terrible smell emitting from within it, just like from a dark spot on Time’s armor.

Well, damn.

While Wind’s stomach apparently could hold out the toughest storms on sea, a simple car ride defeated it. That right there was irony at its finest point.

Well, at least Zelda had good washing machines that should manage to salvage Legend’s poor hat now turned spew bag.

When Impi got out of the car, her sharp eyes instantly narrowed upon realizing the situation. Seeing her nearing with quick steps, Time, stepping protectively in front of Wind, quickly spoke up: “We didn’t get anything on the seats, madam.”

Impi ignored him in favor of kneeling in front of Wind and handing him a bottle of water and some tablets: “Take these, sweetie. They’ll help you feel better.” It was a testament of how bad Wind felt that he didn’t even protest upon the nickname, instead just taking the pills and water eagerly. Impi meanwhile stood up to look at the rest of you annoyed, her gaze pinning you all place: “Stupid. If one of you gets carsick you must tell me and not get it all over you. What else do we have that intercom for? And don’t think I didn’t hear you experimenting with it.”

Both Wind and Wild looked sheepish, though with Wind it might also have been the next wave of nausea. Poor kid.

That was the moment when suddenly the entrance door practically flew open and met with a loud “bang” the opposite wall. And while the loud noise made the Links alarmed flinch and reach for their weapons, the attack had already happened.

The hug attack to be more precise.

The attacker was no one else than your best friend who right now was threatening to cut your air supply short with how hard she was clinging to you.

“Z…Zel…” you brought barely out. “A…air…!”

The wild mob of dark blonde hair in your vision bobbed when Zelda nodded feverishly, quickly letting you go and thus freeing our burning lungs from their burden. Greedily you took big gulps of air while your best friend sheepishly stood by grinning at your probably rugged appearance: “It’s so good to see you again, Babble!”

You paused your overdramatic biological action to glare at her and huff: “Excuse you?! Stop calling me that!”

“Nope!” she said, crossing her arms and giving you a smug smile in a mock villain posture. “You shall never get rid of that shame!” Less dramatic she added then: “Also, I think it’s cute and so does everyone else.”

“You mean everyone else whom you paid” you corrected with a raised eyebrow. She gave a wry grin: “Details, details.”

Shaking your head, you turned to the Links, who were watching your interaction amused, a lot calmer than one would expect given Zelda’s surprise attack on you earlier. Well, they all at their own eccentric friends, and given your experience with them so far, Zelda would fit right in with their chaos.

“So folks, I guess I should introduce my best friend probably then?” you started, but Warriors who had apparently caught himself, stopped you right there: “There is no need.”

He approached Zelda with a flirty grin on his lips and announced with a bow: “This fair maiden is Princess Zelda, aren’t I right?”

While you gaped at the display, Zelda started cackling and deftly used his pose to bob his nose and make him thus lose balance by that unexpected reaction. His undignified sound of surprise made your best friend only laugh louder, before she announced grinning to the fallen hero: “A Zelda I might be, dearest hero, but a princess I’m not and hope I shall never be.”

You snorted at her failed attempt at formal speech and she stuck her tongue out to childishly before turning to the other Links smirking: “Hi, I’m Zelda or Zel and I don’t give a duck at what you call me as long its not princess. I’m gonna be housing you for your time here on earth and I hope you enjoy your stay here and now get the hell inside cause our neighbors are watching and might call the police.”

That drew some more chuckles than even her felling of Warriors had and everyone moved the action inside the house, Warriors pouting and complaining about a gras stain on his prized scarf. You would so have to introduce him to the wonders of washing machines.

Impi closed the entrance door before swiftly stating coldly: “Shoes off and jackets and coats are to be hung on the rack over there.”

And while she bullied the Links into following the for them unfamiliar action, you had long since slipped your trainers off and stashed them into their usual place on the shoe shelf before slipping off into the nearby room, one of the many living rooms. You took in the feeling of soft carpet beneath your socked feet and breathed in the familiar smell of the old books on the nearby large bookshelf.

And then someone stepped into your field of vision. Taller by half a head than you, your older brother towered over you as a gave a soft wave. He looked a bit shaken, his blonde hair was even more a mess than usual, he had bags beneath his eyes and he had ditched his contact lenses for his pair of blue glasses.

His relief at seeing you was obvious. It was as if a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he seemed to stand straighter, his mouth slowly forming a smile.

He was very overprotective of you, your sudden absence must have been mental torture for him.

Your brother opened his arms, a clear invitation for a hug. You took it with no hesitation and crossed the distance within three quick steps.

“It’s good to have you back, kiddo” he said and hugged you tight. You gratefully hugged him back until he suddenly stiffened and pried himself from you. Questioning you looked him, and he only gave a wry grin: “You smell like a lion’s cage. You gotta take a shower.”

You grinned back, rolling your eyes fondly: “I would murder the person that tries to stop me from finally getting one.”

He chuckled, a smile slowly forming: “You worried me.”

“I think I worried everyone. I didn’t plan to, though. I guess I just didn’t have you.”

He groaned at your pun, shaking his head: “Stop, please. That one has sucked years ago and while keep sucking until the end of my life.”

“Luckily you’re stuck with me until then” you grinned and he quickly mock closed his ears: “I can’t hear you and your horrid puns upon my name!”

You both laughed, relief flooding the air with happiness.

“Seriously though, Luck” you stated. “Words cannot describe how glad I am to be back home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun, here it is, the name reveal! ^^ Probably not what a lot of you thought it would be, but remember this author is evil so it was probably to be expected. Or not. *cackling*  
> Read you all next week!


	36. Interlude 4: The one where they stop them from burning down the house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An insight in what it means to be Luck.

When Luck was younger he loved his name. When he was twelve, he had even taken it as far as to use it to make lots and lots of puns with it, to the point where he punned at least every time he spoke - a time at which his younger sibling threatened to set him on fire if he didn’t stop.

(He didn’t and so he had been ridiculously lucky that the family had a fire extinguisher. His little monster hadn’t even been sorry in the slightest while their parents gave them a stern talking to and so to keep the incident from not repeating he toned his punning a little down.)

His parents had fought a war over his name when his mother had been pregnant with him, he’d been told. His father, an absolute geek, had wanted to name him after a freaking videogame character. His mother wanted to give him something more normal. But seeing as both wouldn’t budge from their positions they had a monthlong fight over it. Then his mother started sending his father on ridiculous fetch quests for imaginary cravings in hope of deterring him, seeing as the man had absolutely loved them in his videogames.

Luck must admit, after he had taken a look at the things his father got for his mother he was both impressed and terrified of the power of women.

In the end his mother won because his father simply couldn’t get his hands on the imaginative product his mother had told him to get – she had invented the thing herself, made her own web side about it under a pseudonym and got even some friends to act as workers to take on phone calls telling the caller “Sorry, we’re sold out”.

She guarded that little secret fiercely until after his name was already on all official documents, a point at when the two of them had luckily already come to a manageable compromise. His father had been so awestruck by her completely thought through scheme that he hadn’t even had it within him to be angry at her.

And well, he had later gotten to choose his second child’s name with some input of his wife, so that was okay, too.

Through most of his life Luck had thought himself to be lucky. He had good grades, good friends, a good home, loving parents and lovely pets. He had an absolutely adorable little monster that kept stealing his clothes “for good luck”. He had a best friend in a beautiful red head, later crush, later girlfriend, later fiancé.

And both of them knew how to turn the tides around until he was so sick of hearing puns of his name that he would leave the room or run away from them if possible, thus paying him more than back from his pun usage, up to the point where he started developing a slight distaste for his own name. Unfortunately for him that didn’t deter them for they had years to pay him back and make him regret his earlier life choices.

But that didn’t change the fact he loved his life because everything was perfect.

Until suddenly it wasn’t.

Because when he had been sixteen and suddenly held the still and bleeding form of his little sibling in his arms, something had snapped within him. He hated the people who had dared to hurt his little monster so they might successfully kidnap their best friend for some easy money. He hated his name because how was he lucky if he wasn’t there to stop this from happening? He had never been as scared and lost as he had felt that moment, all the confidence and luck he had over the years shattered within seconds.

It was the moment when he had decided to become a lawyer and get every single one of these monsters behind bars for the rest of their lives.

It was the moment when he had become overprotective of his little sibling but all that accounted for nothing when not even forty-eight hours later he sat in that horrible cold white hospital room again. And that was when he swore he would protect his little sibling with his life.

Luck was lucky that for many years he hadn’t had to worry about his little monster like that again until suddenly they disappeared without any warning and instead the news were screaming about missing people. At first he had been too horrified to move and then he had been calling their phone non-stop, dearly praying for them to pick up.

They didn’t.

Malin had tried to calm him down of course, to assure him it would be alright and that he should stop being like a paranoid mother bear, that his little sibling had probably only lost their phone but Luck had already been too far gone by that point because he had failed to protect them – again. What good for nothing older brother was he anyway?

Helplessly Malin had dragged him over to Zelda who tried to track his sibling’s phone only to come up with nothing, their last signal point being where that goddamn portal was. And Luck felt so hopelessly useless like he had back when he had been only sixteen and drove like a luniac on his motorbike to the hospital, his little monster bleeding through the jacket with which he had bound them to himself and two terrified kids clinging to him to not fall off.

But unlike back then he now had known that he could do something as crazy and futile as it might be. Too crazy maybe looking back at it, though important anyway, no matter what Malin and Zelda might have said.

The word relief didn’t even begin to describe his emotions when that letter arrived, finally bearing positive news.

And it didn’t even begin to formulate the needed words when he finally held the dirty, stinky and slightly bleedy but alive and happy form of his little monster in his arms.

Maybe he was a bit lucky after all, for none of the others who had went missing had returned yet.

Luck smiled sincerely for the first time since his sibling’s disappearance and stood up from where he had seated himself on one of the many comfortable couches when he finally heard the shower start up upstairs. Shaking his head to clear himself from the dark thoughts he had had the last few days he left the room to finally take on their other guests headfirst. He would so have to thank them for getting his little monster back home.

Though he couldn’t really imagine them truly being fictive characters come to life, he had planned to be open minded and approach the situation diplomatically. After all if magical dimensional crossing portals exist, why the hell not also videogame characters?

Luck paused where he stood in the doorway when his nose caught the scent of something burning. Horrified he quickly grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher to run into the nearest kitchen where the horrible stink came from. He pressed it until its empty upon entering the room painted dark with smoke, before throwing it aside and quickly wading through the mess to wrench the windows wide open. Once he can see and breathe again, he turned around to survey the mess. Anger boiled within him and he picked up a half-burned broken table-leg up from the ground, fingers gripping into the wood in hope of staying calm.

“Pardon my language” Luck then stated, staring at the culprits bathed in foam. “What the actual duck do you two think you are doing?!”

Two faces that look too freakishly similar and familiar to be coincidences turned to him.

“Cooking?” offered the long haired and scarred Breath of the Wild Link, while his brunette Link-friend, whom Luck could not concretely identify, added: “Wild was teaching me. We couldn’t start the fire in the fire place so we made our own.” “We did not expect this much smoke though” `Wild` finished.

Luck’s gaze is unavoidably drawn to the smoking remains of the electric herd now bathed in foam and he thanked to whoever is interested in listening at that moment that he had smelled this dawning catastrophe before they had accidentally burned the mansion down.

His lucky streak broke however when suddenly Impi is in the doorway and he can swear he can see smoke coming from her nose when she saw the mess they had made, though her face was blank. “Two minutes” she intoned icily. “Two minutes I leave you idiots alone to deal with the other imbeciles this household has just gained and you manage to…” She stopped, sharp eyes snapping to Luck.

“This is not what it looks like” Luck stated helplessly, dropping the burned and broken table-leg.

“Out” Impi practically hissed.

All three males fled the kitchen before they could feel her wrath.

Jogging down one of the long corridors in hope of getting as far away from the crime scene as humanly possible, they only stopped once they are sure they are out of Impi’s range of wrath. Only then Luck dared to start chuckling at the pure irony of his name striking once more. The two other boys quickly joined in, the familiar rush of adrenaline throwing through their veins making them feel alive.

And then, when all their bellies hurt from laughing and they’re out of breath, they finally calm down to form coherent sentences again.

“Hi” gave Breath of the Wild Link out between two hearty chuckles: “I’m Link but due to inconvenient circumstances I’ve been called Wild for a while now.”

Brunette Link continued while laughing: “Also Link, and those are the inconvenient circumstances which are why they call me Hyrule.”

“Hey” sniggered Luck. “Nice to meet you. Thanks for bringing my sibling home. I’m Luck and that’s my friend irony.”

And once more bright laugher was heard.


	37. The one where you do some damage control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving Zelda alone with a bunch of Links for some time is generally...not a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've got some more fanart! A round of applause for fluffy_chan (the-magic-enchilada) and their cute personal interpretation of what Babble looks like! You can check it out here: https://the-magic-enchilada.tumblr.com/image/623936124319039488  
> Also I really can't wait for the chapter after this one it's gonna be so much fun! ^^

Stepping out of the shower you felt like you had just been reborn. Breathing in the misty air you sighed contently before slipping into your favorite pajama that you had stashed at your best friend’s house. Toweling your wet hair you slipped on a set of poofy slippers before leaving the bathroom bordering on the room you stayed in whenever you slept over at your best friend’s house – to the point where Zelda had started calling it your second bedroom - and followed the long hallways back the stairs down and into one of the many living rooms from which you heard loud noise coming.

Entering you quickly realized your mistake at leaving Zelda alone with a bunch of her favorite fictional characters. Because your friend was currently in one of the most epic dance offs of this century with Warriors to “Bad Romance”, with Wind on the sidelines cheering them on, obviously thanks to whatever medicine Impi had given him feeling worlds better and Twilight watching from the nearby table where a forgotten Scrabble laid and a sleeping Sky.

Quick steps and rhythmic movements with elegance and more grace than you could ever even hope to reach, swirling skirts and twirling scarfs and both participants unwilling to allow even one misstep, their dance contest truly was a sight to behold.

The song ended while you stood in the doorway calculating the mess because there were definitely some Links missing in this chain and you did not want to know what exactly the others were up to. When the resulting points were loaded up you gaped at the ridiculously high numbers both participants had gotten and finally Warriors cheered while Zelda gaped and sputtered: “H…how?! That’s my best song! How have you beaten me? Rematch! I demand a rematch!”

Because Warriors had beaten your best friend by one little point.

Quickly seeing your chance you slipped in and pulled your fuming friend aside: “Sure, but first we’ve gotta have that looong talk you promised me. With all the deeds and stuff.” “B…but!” she started to protest pouting but you gave her the “not now” look and she quietened.

Quickly you then turned to Wind and Warriors and announced: “I dare you to do Gangam Style next.” Both heroes instantly squared their shoulders never to back down from a challenge and the youngest hero quickly snatched the control remote from Zelda and once the music played you two quickly slipped out of the room under the watchful gaze of Twilight.

Once surely out of earshot you asked: “What was that supposed to be?!”

“A distraction, duh” Zelda stated with a shrug. “You wanna keep them from snooping you’ve gotta keep them busy.” Then she gave a self-satisfied grin and crossed her arms waiting for your praise.

Instead she only gained your raised eyebrow: “You do realize that there are more than just these four Links to keep busy?”

At that Zelda narrowed her eyes: “Yeah, I know, I’m not dumb after all. I kept them busy with other things, of course, that are sure to keep them invested.”

She smiled smugly and pulled you along into the nearby small theatre, where a lonely Time sat staring unblinkingly at the ridiculously large screen where a ten hour documentation about the first moon landing ran. Zelda smugly showed you the DVD cover and gave you a grin that said: “See, I’ve got everything control.”

You only gave her a doubting glance and quietly stated once you two had left the room behind: “I’m not quite sure how using someone’s childhood trauma against them is a good way to keep them busy?”

“As long as it works I’m not complaining” Zelda gave a shrug and an uncaring grin before pulling you along into the direction of the nearest kitchen and you already knew what was coming before the smell hit you.

Both of you exchanged a worried look before you jogged to where the kitchen was, only to pause in the doorway at the glare that Impi hit you with as she stood there ankle deep in some kind of foam, scrubbing with a mop the dark smoke stains from the ceiling, behind her the smoking remains of an electric herd. Next to you Zelda gasped in surprise: “Impi, what happened?!”

“Luck and two of your guests did” the woman answered dryly, obviously inwardly boiling if judging by the murderous gleam in her fire red eyes.

That was the moment when both of you decided to make your exit because an angry Impi is not one you want to be near.

“So guess Luck’s now on Linksitting duty” you commented dryly. Zelda shrugged: “Well, at least these two then won’t pose a problem anymore. They’re probably by now lost in one of the cellars if they put Luck on guiding duty.”

Too true. Your brother was utterly miserable at directions.

“Well, that makes seven Links taken care of” you gave now with a relieved smile. Apparently Zelda really had decided to wisely plan everything through for once. “What about the last two?”

“Ooh, I’ve got a whole garage full of stuff prepared for them. Mountains of books on modern blacksmithing and newer techniques they can take home and use to bring their times forward immensely” she stated proudly. You doubted that this was such a good idea to give their technologies such a rapid improvement but then a thought came to you.

“Did you say prepare? As in ‘they’re not there yet’?” you voiced, feeling dread settle into your stomach.

“Yep” Zelda said calmly, popping the “p”. “Poor Legend needed to use the toilet direly and sweet Four went with him, so he does not get lost.”

You resisted the urge to facepalm at that statement, given with such trust and conviction it was admirable.

“Zelda…” you began, unsure how to break it to her. “…you do realize they were on the toilet just before we got picked up by Impi? And Legend was not carsick? And he’s the one who’s got the most experience on his back, so definitely is not one to get lost easily?”

Zelda’s eyes widened at that and her face quickly lost its color: “Oh.”

Well, she was a genius in creating plans, only her executing them was troublesome.

“Well, their curiosity is well understandable, this is a whole other world after all” she finally said helplessly. “A bit exploring won’t hurt them, right?”

“As long as you Linkproofed the house before, it should be alright.” Her now ghostly pale face told you another story.

“You have at least locked the Hall of Obsession, right?!” your own voice was trembling by now and you felt like being ready to pass out, a feeling your best friend reflected due to the “Oh Sh’t” look on her face.

A monster headache set in, as did a feeling of existential dread.

Zelda looked ready to hyperventilate.

Okay, time for some damage control.

“Okay, okay, this is fine. There’s no point stressing if they have not found it yet” you stated, forcing yourself to stay calm and optimistic. A plan to do some damage control was direly needed and apparently you were the only one able to think straight in a Link’s presence so that duty fell to you.

“Zelda, you’ve gotta hurry and lock it. Hide the keys somewhere on your body if you can and not where they can find it and hope their game logic extends to real life. I’m gonna search for the missing Links and let’s pray we’re not too late” this gained you a determined nod and then the two of you quickly sped up into opposite directions.  
You really, really hoped the Links had not found the Hall of Obsession yet, for that would definitely have only horrendous outcomes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, you've gotta check out the newest piece of fanart! https://the-magic-enchilada.tumblr.com/image/623936124319039488


	38. The one where they find the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Legend and Four find some things they never should have discovered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listened to the Imagine Dragons songs "Smoke and Mirrors" and "Dream" while writing this. It sets quite the mood.

Did Four feel bad for snooping? To be honest, he was a bit torn on that topic.

On one hand, yes, they had been so friendly and hospitable and they could always trust Zeldas, on the other, no, there was so much to learn about this strange new world. Also, Legend totally had planned on prying and if the veteran was allowed to sneak, why not Four also? Everything else would be unfair.

Furthermore, that way he could control what Legend snooped through, the last encounter with poor Babble’s journal in front of his mind, Four had then decided to join Legend on his quest for knowledge.

And so the two heroes travelled through the halls and up a set of stairs and then more halls, Legend keeping his probably paranoid prying to the minimum, only briefly opening a door to look inside, before gently closing it again and moving on to the next room.

And so Four watched him move quietly, hoping that this would soon be over, because while he was also very much curious, he also knew that this sort of excessive investigation was entirely unnecessary.

Finally, after way too many doors, he spoke up: “I don’t think our toilet excuse is going to work any longer. We should head back soon.” The veteran paused and tensed, before giving a strained nod, seeing the sense in the smith’s words. “Just the rest of the hall” he then insisted, before moving on to open the last three doors this hallway had.

The first was another bathroom, the huge bathtub nearing a small pool in size.

The second was just as innocent, it seemed to be another unoccupied guest bedroom.

The last was dark and Legend reached for his satchel to remove a lamp for some light, only to not have the magical bag hand him the wanted item. While the veteran stumbled horrified into the dark room, hand in the small and very much empty bag - now that the magic supplying the extradimensional space magic holding his items and trinkets was gone – Four quietly followed, slipping into the dark room behind him and closing the door behind them as to not cause a ruckus on the hallway, thus bathing them in black.

“Your bag” the veteran practically hissed frantically, while reaching within his own with the urge of a man stranded on an island with no water and now fumbling with his suddenly empty water flask. “Can you use it?”

Four reached for his own bag to feel the magic upon it gone as well and shook his head wordlessly, an action that couldn’t be seen by Legend thanks to the darkness shrouding them. But his silence was enough of an answer as the elements within the smith awoke and trembled in confusion, uncertainty, trepidation and apprehension, but they needed to stay calm and clear their head and so Four breathed and calmed while the veteran only grew more frantic.

“Light! We need light!” he spoke almost desperately, as if that simple force could clear all their sudden troubles away. Four nodded and scrambled along the wall to find that little square he had watched this Zelda use to lighten the living room they had been staying in, hoping to find a similar one here. Finally his searching fingers found lucky purchase and he flipped the switch and his sight returned with the light.

For a second, his eyes found Legend’s who’s looked like a cornered animal’s, ready to bolt at any giving moment.

And then his sight wandered and dread fell heavy into his stomach, while silence fell between the two heroes as they got the chance to finally acknowledge their surroundings, their bag problem quickly forgotten. Four felt a storm brewing within as he took in the view of the huge room, of the hall, they were in.

His gaze met Legend’s and he knew instantly he was just as pale as the veteran was.

“Don’t ever tell Warriors about this room. It would rise his ego to an even more unmanageable size” Legend joked but there was no humor in his tone.

Four nodded and then the two heroes moved stiffly, as if every movement could set off a trap and maybe it could.

The posters of their comrade’s and their own faces stared almost mockingly down at them even as they seemed to be busy with other things.

Legend had stopped in front of a man sized poster next to vitrine stuffed with various trinkets, all of them depicting big or small the words “Legend of Zelda”. On the poster was a pantsless blonde boy, a redheaded girl, a brunette man and much green, the background taken by a mounted crowned by a white egg with rose spots.

The vetaran’s fingers ghosted almost feverishly over the girl’s face, his eyes were wide and unseeing.

“No, no, no” Legend whispered nearly inaudible, his voice like a breeze blown away in the wind. “I can’t. No, not again.”

It was then that Four decided to drift away from the older hero, deciding to give him that bit of privacy he had left to give, pointedly trying to ignore another poster, portraying four colorful lads playfighting and turning away from another poster picturing a boy with a way too familiar hat and Minish, the capitation unmistakable.

And while the other elements started to move uneasily within, Four clung to the shaken but still calm earth with all he had and drifted to the enormous bookcase that the room offered.

And while in the background the veteran must have found a way to turn the – “ _TV” Zelda said_ the unmoving earth supplied, as the two elements were torn apart by their emotions and the wind raged in denial – TV nearest the poster that had torn into Legend’s heart on and made a haunting music appear, Four refused to turn as his fingers ghosted over book backs.

And while everything seemed to fall apart, their own lives, past and future, the earth held steady, guiding Four into minding the other’s privacy and searching for his own answers.

And so they found a book with a familiar title and pulled it out. They had read the title on its back, of course they had, yet it had not prepared them for the sight of the cover. The earth gave a slight tremble upon seeing their shadow and the fire rushed hot to steady them as the waves crashed against the shore.

The wind then quickly wove through the pages, taking everything in as calm as they could.

The pressure built in their temples and any tentative balance they had achieved and held until then was torn apart and pulled under with every picture they saw, with every word read and yet they carried on, morbid curiosity and tentative hope that _there’s a mistake_ , that _this was not real_ driving them forward, even as every fiber of their being demanded that they stop, for this could shatter them more than that cursed sword they themselves had forged.

And yet they continued on with the earth forcing the other elements for once aside, desperate to see again and to learn and to unsee all at once.

The earth was shaking, the ground crumbling beneath their feet as they reached the pages capturing their shadow’s death. The wind was a hurricane, the sea joining in to form a tsunami and the fire was quiet and almost extinguished.

 _Not real, not real_ was chanted in a choir of denial and fear and uncertainty.

They finished the story as the door flew open and Zelda (maybe the only one to ever really exist, for how existed they if this existed and no magic did?) rushed in, breathlessly and wide eyed.

The blonde girl stared at Legend who had laid the controller he found aside to just let the cute figure watch the cuter redheaded girl sing, his face vacant, his mind elsewhere.

Zelda’s panicked gaze then wandered to Four, who held the drawn book still on the last page open.

“How much did you see?” she asked, her voice nearly a whimper.

It gets them back into him, the elements diving under to regroup, tired and torn and not ready to deal with the realizations that everything they had lived through was a lie, a fictional work. That they were nothing more than puppets come to life.

“Everything” Four breathed, voice haunted, his eyes a dullish aqua-grey, devoid of its usual rainbow.

Zelda nodded, taking a sharp breath, face tight as she gently took the book from his hands and softly closed it before tenderly putting it back into place. She guided him carefully across the room and turned the TV off, even as it made the veteran look murderous.

She firmly but also tentatively herded them out of the hall into the hallway, flipping the switch and closing the door before locking it. Only after she locked the door she turned to them, eyes pleading.

“Please don’t tell anyone that you just found out” she begged. “Please don’t tell anyone what you just found out. Babble would have my head.”

Legend laughed at that, returning to the reality, bitter and cruel and broken and if Four wasn’t as empty as he currently felt, he would have shuddered, a motion that Zelda did.

“Oh, you mean that we’re not real persons? That everything we lived for was nothing but a lie, a fiction that is meant to entertain children?” he laughed again and Zelda started crying in despair or maybe at the unfairness of their situation as they started walking back to others who were still blessedly unaware, thinking their universes were on equal footing, not one the product of the fantasies of the other, ready to burst like a bubble if left alone.

“No, don’t worry” the next words are mockingly and broken as much as they lighten up the girl’s face, the only one of the three of them in that hallway that was a real person. The words were just as hallow as Four felt because the elements had deserted him, just like the magic that didn’t exist had abandoned them.

“We’re not that cruel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed while I shattered these kids.


	39. The one where you make some plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You search and find some missing people and make some plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, you guys rock! Like seriously, after the last chapter I was drowned in reviews and I must say just thank you. You are amazing.   
> Well, anyway after all that angst in the last chapter its time to look at the more humorous side of things again, this is after all an attempt at writing humor.   
> So enjoy! ^^

You rushed along hallways in desperate search for those gone astray, worry only growing with every minute you had not found them. For what would happen if they find what they should never see?

You didn’t dare to imagine.

Because the very existence of the franchise in your world made you question the reality of theirs and you had been there. And you had heard the history.

How had these stories crossed over in the way they had? Or was Hyrule just a figment born from the creator’s and fan’s imagination?

You were pretty sure it was real, for while every other magical item you had tested so far seemingly had ceased to work, the book still safely in your backpack still pulsed with magic and the ability to form portals to another world. It had lost its reality bending ability though (which honestly was a great relief, because for the test you had written “Pigs should fly” and it luckily hadn’t happened yet).

You hadn’t however had time (nor interest for you did so not want to burn your fingers) to inspect the Master Sword though, mind you, so you could not really prove your current theory that only the super high profile magical items still had some use, though highly diminished thanks to Earth being a magic hating planet apparently, that tried to snuff this power out as far as it could, only apparently the power of the goddesses of Hyrule managing to override it slightly.

But again, it was only a non-proven theory so far and you wouldn’t be surprised if the goddesses were to blame for the inspiration that caused the games to exist here by somehow influencing those in charge of making the videogames in the first place.

Rounding a corner, you nearly crashed into the grid of an air shaft that was suddenly flung in your direction. Doubling back and almost stumbling over your feet, you stared as your brother, followed by a grinning Wild and a concerned looking Hyrule climbed out of the now opened what should be the too tight air vent. When he saw you, Luck started grinning madly, and he turned, his glasses hanging askew, to his two companions, which were just as grimy and dust-covered as he was and proclaimed: “See, I told you I know the way!”

“That you did!” Wild agreed before promptly pulling out his Sheikah Slate for probably taking a victory photo, only to find it still disappointedly not working, due to missing magic to charge it.

Hyrule frowned slightly before quietly stating: “Well, I’ve been lost a lot and I still think that we were lost until now…but if you two think so…”

“Don’t look so down, buddy. Rather say _cheese_!” Luck intoned peppily while pulling the two Links close for a Selfie with his own (scratched and dirty) phone in front of the air shaft they just escaped from. Both heroes quickly followed his orders and from your point of view you had to admit that the photo probably would be a good one.

Which your brother quickly checked and showed the other two boys with a satisfied nod, which made you realize that this was probably not the first time the three had a photo session like this. You couldn’t help but wonder what exactly these boys had done in the meantime but actually you were quite sure you didn’t want to know.

“Okay” you stated and thus captured the attention of your brother and his apparently two new buddies. “Would you mind following me now so I can lead you back without you getting lost?”

“We were not lost, I gave them the grand tour of this place!” your brother quickly bristled but you quickly stalked off, not ready to have this argument again with him.

Hyrule quickly jogged to catch up with you while Wild stayed slightly behind next to your brother, the two quickly diving into a discussion over phones, tablets and Sheikah Slates. “You know” he admitted quietly, once he was sure the other two were not listening, too deep into their argumentation. “We totally were lost. But it was fun anyway.”

You chuckled at that: “Well, that’s most important anyway.”

Under your proper guidance, the four of you soon were back in the gaming room with the other Links (except Time who was in the nearby mini cinema) and were greeted by a much too wide smiling Zelda: “Heeey! Good to have you back, folks! The great dance off has almost started, you ready to participate?”

You gave your friend a raised eyebrow while she gave a slight nervous twitch under your scrutinizing look. Then your gaze swept to the darkest corner of the room where Four sat, staring with glazed eyes into nowhere, while Twilight obviously concerned with the smallest hero quietly talked to him. In another corner Legend was over aggressively playing ‘wack a mole’, so obviously something definitely had happened while you were Link searching.

“A moment please” you gritted out between clenched teeth, quickly realizing that the resident snoopers had definitely seen something they shouldn’t have. “Luck, you’re on sitting duty. Don’t get lost.”

Your brother gulped nervously when he saw the barely suppressed anger in your face and nodded quickly, before you pulled your friend out of the room.

Zelda looked ready keel over by the time you had managed to bring some distance between you two and them.

“Spill” you gritted out while shooting her your best “I’m very disappointed with you” look, copied straight from Impi.

“I’m sorry, okay? But it’s probably not as bad as you think it is” Zelda brought out with a helpless shrug. “I’ll be the judge of that” you stated grimly, waiting for her admission.

She sighed and slowly turned a lovely shade of crimson red: “They found the Furry Room. It might have traumatized them slightly, but I think they’re gonna be fine?” You shuddered while you remembered that particular room of one of her many obsessions and she twitched and you knew she was lying.

At your stern look, which you had to fight for to regain for you had seen the horrors that this one room offered, she quietly admitted, this time completely honest: “Okay, they will not be fine. This is probably gonna traumatize them for a long, long time.”

She looked away, probably embarrassed beyond words and you reached up to consolingly pat her on her head. This got her back: “Hey, don’t you pat me! I’m still a few inches taller than you! Only I have the right for head patting you!”

Which she promptly did, messing up your hair unsavable, which in turn made you attack hers. Soon the two of you were rolling on the floor playfighting like you had even when you were children. Finally managing to pin her arm into the police lock, you huffed out: “Do you give?”

“I give! I give!” she exclaimed panting and you let her go and she quickly turned onto her back, taking deep breaths.

You let yourself fall next to her and gave her wry grin while staring at the ceiling: “So…what do you suggest we do to undo that mental damage you caused them?”

She winced in sympathy and bad coincidence before stating: “I was thinking about taking them shopping tomorrow while someone takes Sky to a doctor for his Asthma. It’s really bad. Also, they need fitting clothes if they don’t want to stand out as much as they already do. Plus their bags don’t work anymore so they really, really need a change of clothes anyway.”

You chuckled at that, imagining the Link’s confusion and panic at finding that little tidbit out and remembered your own surprise when you had first tried to use your own magical bag only to find it had ceased to work. “Yeah, I can see that reasoning. Try not to be too excessively, alright?”

“Weeeell” she started and you turned your head to shoot her an unamused look. “No promises?”

“Okay, I’m coming with you tomorrow” you stated blank faced. “Luck can take care of Sky. And Malin will take care of Luck. So they shouldn’t get lost too badly, they’ve got a navigation system after all.”

Zelda pouted a little, already knowing that you would probably reign in her shopping madness at least a little. But then she sighed and admitted defeat: “Alright, I’ll give them enough money tomorrow so that everything can be paid. And Impi will drive us.”

You nodded, that plan sounded okay. Then she gave a bright smile while turning her head to you: “But first we’ve gotta have that dance off I promised them!”

As expected Warriors wiped the floor with the others, though Zelda gave her best and even Legend, as traumatized by his findings as he was, seemed to snap back well enough for some time to give a close race for third place.

Unsurprisingly Sky was last, as he peacefully slumbered away the night, later to be carried by Twilight to one of the many guest bedrooms, the two of them would share.

“You know” you admitted quietly while you guided a sugar rushed Wind, who sadly had found one of the many secret sweets stashes Zelda had all over the mansion, to the temporary room he’d share with the still blank faced Four. “I feel like we’re forgetting someone.”

“Ah, don’t worry, we all sometimes feel like that” Zelda reassured, while showing Wild and Warriors the room they’d share, just as she then did with Legend and Hyrule.

Then the two of you retreated to your own rooms for the night, after hunting down a once more slightly lost Luck who also went to rest for the night in the guest room he usually resided in.

…

Meanwhile Time still sat quietly in the theatre and stared unblinkingly at the screen, only two and a half hours into the ten hour special edition documentary of the first moon landing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I have not forgetten the winners of the last poll - both Wild and Sky will soon get their voted spotlight. Hope you'll enjoy the chaos that will follow. ^^


	40. The one where they deal with coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up, our heroes find themself ready to tackle the first complete day in the strange world they found themselves now in, some more than others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who said they wanted to see some more Sky? Here the boy is. ^^ Next chapter probably, too.

Sky awoke with a cough. This wasn’t too strange, it was something that sometimes happened but this one just wouldn’t go away and so he coughed and coughed and hoped he wouldn’t wake Twilight. His roommate twitched in his sleep but luckily didn’t wake and so Sky quickly clutched the comfortable and probably - if judging the rest of the room – very expensive pillow to his face to stifle the loud coughs as he struggled for air and prayed to the goddesses for this episode to be over.

Black spots were already in his line of vision when finally the attack subsided, and though still stifled Sky could breathe again. His head was spinning and he felt as if he had just fought for hours on end but no matter how tight his chest still felt, there was air in his lungs again and that was enough.

Quietly he rolled out of bed and walked out the room and even as he had to hold his weight on the wall as his head still spun slightly from the missing oxygen it had just suffered, he still slung the sleeping Fi over his shoulder in her sheath. As soon as he had left the room, Sky then quickly followed the long halls down the stairs until he smelled the strong smell of…something.

Confused he followed the smell into a room that might be the kitchen that Wild and Hyrule had been guided to the day before as there was still a slight stain on the ceiling from smoke. But otherwise the room looked completely new.

As if catching his gaze, the woman the heroes had been introduced to yesterday, Impi (and didn’t that seem uncomfortably saddening familiar? Sky’s Zelda would have loved to meet this woman), stated coldly from where she was seated at the large table with another person: “The painters refused to come and do their job at the late time we already had yesterday. At least the others already delivered punctually.”

Sky looked at her and shuddered, the ice cold look in her eyes promised no mercy for the unbribable painters that had refused the last minute job offer. But then she put a professional smile on and pulled one of the many free chairs out: “Come and sit, I’ve got coffee. You look like you need it.”

_Coffee? What was that?_

Then she quickly swung her head around and snatched probably said coffee out of the reaching hands of the other person seated on the table: “No you don’t! That would be your fifth cup this morning! Man up!”

And only then the shade of a person also sitting on the table became recognizable.

It was Time.

Sky stared and then quietly seated himself between the woman and his leader. The man looked…horrible. Like he hadn’t gotten a minute of sleep that night while also being tortured. His eye was bloodshot, you could build entire cities under the bags of his eyes and his hands still clinging to the probably coffee can were shaking.

Now seriously worried, Sky asked: “Are you okay?” Which also translated to _“Do you want to talk about it?”_ seeing as each hero had their own bag of personal trauma they carried with themselves.

“The moon here is not about to come and crash down, so yes” Time stated tonelessly, as if he was only talking about the weather and not about an apocalyptic occurrence that apparently he only just now learned was impossible here but apparently entirely possible where he was from.

Sky felt the blood drain out of his face at the implications and while his mind flashed back to when Time had stated the biggest thing he had ever fought was the moon, he couldn’t help the uninvited tightness settling on his lungs as the worry for Hyrule – and especially his love – overcame him.

Utterly unimpressed meanwhile, Impi wrenched the coffee can from Time’s fingers before putting a cup with a probably louder impact than necessary in front of Sky to pour some of the strange, strong smelling black liquid into it, thus snapping the chosen hero quite effectively out of his spiraling thoughts. The strong smell grounded the young man and he forced his lungs back into function before giving the woman a thankful smile, which she responded to with a curt nod. Sky then looked at the hot liquid for moment before shrugging and trying a sip, it wouldn’t do to offend those hospitable with him.

He nearly spat it out again.

This was so bitter!

Seeing as Impi probably would be offended if he were to not drink it, he gave a strained smile and a shaky: “Well, I’ve never drunk anything like that before.”

“I’d be surprised if you had” Impi answered with an approving nod.

 _Good, this apparently had been the right course of action_. _Crisis averted._

“Give me a minute, I’ll make you some more” and with that she stood up with the can to make her words true.

_Or not._

Sky felt even worse dread settle in his stomach before a sudden idea came him. Discretely he switched his full cup with Time’s identical empty one. If Time liked it, a fifth cup of this so called coffee shouldn’t hurt him, right?

And the other man seemed thankful enough before chugging the hot liquid down like one would water, so Sky thought that it probably wouldn’t matter.

Soon after Sky found the cup in front of him sadly filled again with the cursed black liquid, which he again discretely switched with Time when Impi was distracted by the incoming newcomers, consisting of Babble, Zelda, Luck, Twilight, Wild and Warriors. Whom she quickly also served some coffee though Babble frowned and pushed theirs in their older brother’s direction while Zelda poured what seemed like a package of sugar into hers, before gulping the whole brew down.

Sky shuddered at the probable taste and Babble’s frown deepened at the implications of what that could do to their best friend’s health.

Meanwhile Twilight also seemed not a big friend of the taste, while Warriors didn’t seem to mind much and Wild even seemed to enjoy it, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. As much as he was a good cook Wild also had a quite excessive taste at times.

Apparently Twilight had the same thoughts as Sky had when he saw that Time eyed the other’s coffee cups almost hungrily and so he discretely switched his with Time’s again empty cup.

How fast did the man chug these drinks down?!

“Okay, last one for you” Impi said just in that moment while filling Sky’s cup again. Across the table he met Twilight’s equally horrified expression as they both found their cups too quickly filled to decline.

The last switch discretely happened even more chaotic while eating breakfast and having the other heroes also coming in.

Wind bemoaned that he had been declared “too young” for coffee, Four just stared holes into the air with almost empty aqua colored eyes (Sky wondered what had happened to the smith to have the quiet hero become even quieter), Hyrule said he’d drunk worse and Legend, at first taste surprised, then actually smiled while drinking his cup. When asked he stated: “I have theoretically drunk this before…”

Which was not worrying at all, _not at all_.

Suddenly a loud sound rang through the house they were staying in and while the heroes tensed, Impi quickly rose with the words “I’ll get it”. What she got was unsure at that moment for Sky, but he hoped it was alright and would not force him to make another switcheroo (Twilight had wisely decided to turn his cup upside down before it could be filled for a third time).

And then suddenly Time collapsed face first into his breakfast.

And while most of the people at the table cried out in alarm at that, Impi promptly as if summoned stormed into the room followed by what looked like a younger Malon – what the actual…? – and only chastised the eldest hero: “Didn’t I tell you to stop? How many cups were that?!”

Almost delirious Time answered to that: “Kids or cups? Nine, I think…”

The corners of Impi’s mouth dragged down dangerously at that and she quickly pulled him out of his chair and after a practically hissed “No one move a muscle” escorted (read: dragged) their leader out of the room.

As one probably expected, after that it was dangerously still in the room, younger Malon still standing awkwardly in the doorway.

Soon after Impi returned with a death glare that could have defeated Demise and questioned: “Alright, who gave him the other five cups of coffee?!”

Wisely everyone held their hands down at that moment, though both Sky and Twilight exchanged a short and panicked glance. Seeing as no answer came, the tension only grew until – thank the goddesses for this small mercy – younger Malon awkwardly cleared her throat: “So…we’re still doing today’s plan or not?”

Instantly Impi seemed to regain what little professionalism she had lost: “Thank you for reminding me, Malin, dear. Of course, we’ll still go through the plans, though due to certain circumstances someone has to stay here and watch this coffee addicted excuse of an adult.”

“You could stay” Zelda offered and next to her Babble gave a quiet sound of protest. “I mean, we’re just shopping. We can just take the bus there. What could happen?”

“You jinxed it. Right now, right there, you jinxed it” Babble gave out and Zelda gave her best friend an annoyed scuff with an elbow into the ribs to shut them up. At which they overdramatically groaned and clutched as if mortally wounded the place. Zelda simply rolled her eyes and chose to ignore them.

Optimistically she then turned back to the older woman: “Look, this is not like the last time we were without you. We’re not little kids anymore. We’ll be fine.”

Impi frowned at that: “You do realize the last time you were without me was before I was hired.”

Zelda wasn’t deterred by that though: “Yes, exactly. We’re not little kids anymore. We’ll be fine.”

With a grin and a dramatic swing of her arms she then gestured to the other occupants at the table: “Besides, I’ve got seven heroes of courage with me there, what could go wrong?”

That’s how Sky found himself once more in a car, which was a lot scarier now that he was actually aware what was happening around him and also this time separated from his companions, with only Luck and not-younger-Malon-but-Malin on the way to a doctor’s office, while Zelda, Babble (who heavily protested the whole time) and everyone else but Impi and Time apparently went to go catch a bus, whatever that was. But because both young adults seemed calm, Sky forced himself to be also lest it bring him another attack, hoping that their doctor would be able to fix his now somehow even worse lungs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God, this chapter already got fan art by the amazing Agent3Novi! ^^ You never ceases to amaze me, my friend. *Cackles madly* This is absolutely glorious and captures the mess perfectly!  
> You've gotta check it out everyone! https://sweetheartdj13.tumblr.com/post/625910778345684992/local-adventurer-discovers-coffee-proceeds-to


	41. The one where they go to the doctor's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the doctor's is usually very enlightening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeay, more fanart! ^^ Check out the-magic-enchilada's illustration of a scene from chapter 4. It's really cute and stars their interpretation of Babble. You can find the comic here: https://the-magic-enchilada.tumblr.com/post/626484227498754048/another-fanart-for-little-waterboiler-s-babble

Seeing as Malin drove the car, there were no nameable spacial displacemental mishaps. And so they luckily soon reached the doctor’s office. Luck, instead of getting out, suddenly turned around in his seat after they had parked and squinted through his glasses, which instead of his contactlenses he wore today, at the clothes that Hylia’s chosen hero wore. His frown showed that whatever he saw wasn’t satisfying and when Malin turned around, she realized that they hadn’t thought this through. When Sky carefully inquired why, she was the one to answer: “Your clothes are probable to stand out. Your natural lack of any medical history is bound to raise eyebrows, your clothes are only going to worsen that. We should have thought about that before coming here. Any ideas?”

The Link in the car looked down on himself at this: “But what I wear is pretty normal for the knights of Skyloft Academy?”

“Exactly” stated Luck, nodding in agreement. “But not for us here and now.” Then an idea lightened up his complexion: “You’ve got layers under that tunic, right? Maybe one of them is neutral enough…”

Sky nodded in understanding before he dutifully started to strip out of his many layers, Malin looking away even though he was not going naked and Luck looking contemplative in thought until the last layer, a white shirt with blue ornaments. Only then he offered his thoughts out loud: “Okay first of: Dude, how have you not died of an heatstroke yet? Cause honestly…” Not now” Malin quickly cut her fiancé off, fingers nervously tapping a melody out on the steering wheel. Luck frowned but let the topic rest.

Instead he declared: “That won’t do. If you had proper identification and stuff, probably, some folks just like more traditional and older stuff. But how you are now? Nope.”

“But I’ve got nothing else currently? My bag kinda doesn’t work anymore?” Sky offered helplessly unsure of what exactly Luck was aiming at. Malin gave the brunette a pitying look before shooting her fiancé a more direct look. He sighed before sheading his jacket and revealing a normal plain white sweatshirt underneath. Slipping it off, he was left with a simple light blue T-Shirt over which he pulled the jacket again before he handed the Chosen Hero a soft, white sweatshirt: “Here, put this on. It might be a bit long on the sleeves but that’s better than standing out with your current overall.”

Soon after they entered the doctor’s office and Malin quickly got the forms they’d need to fill to get Sky looked at seeing as he didn’t have a health insurance. After assuring the man working at the desk trice over that yes, they would pay, they had the money thanks to their rich friend who wanted the strange boy without proper possibility of proof of identity to be looked at. And once they had taken place in the waiting room, they directly ran into the next problem while filling in the formular already in the first line.

“Name?” Malin murmured the question. “Link, obviously” gave Luck back, sitting next to her, Sky seated on his other side and looking in fascination at the colorful magazines.

Seeing as the two of them had a little doubt that Sky would be able to deal with modern day bureaucracy, especially as Sky somehow still couldn’t read the written letters of modern day English though he could understand it just fine, had taken on filling the papers themselves.

“No, last name” Malin shot back at that. Luck blinked in confusion at that question before quickly turning to Sky to ask in a hushed tone: “Do you have a last name?”

“Not that I know of” Sky replied to that. “Why would we need one? Skyloft is a small community. Everyone knows everyone.”

“Very helpful” muttered Luck sarcastically before turning to Malin. “Just write Sky.”

“Done” she said, scribbling “Link Sky” down. Seeing as Luck’s writing hand was almost illegible to the average human being Malin had been chosen to fill in the forms. Which now brought them due to ill-chosen seating arrangement to the whispered conversation where Luck had to relate to everyone what was said in order to not draw the attention of the blonde middle-aged woman also seated in the room.

“Date of birth?” Malin asked, Luck quickly relating the question. “The middle of the third week after pumpkin season in the…” Sky dutifully replied before Luck cut him off: “Just make it 18th of November.”

“Which year?”

“He looks about nineteen, just date it back.”

And on the questions went.

“Allergies?” “None that he knows of.”

And on and on.

“Vaccines?” “Does he even know what vaccines are?” “What are they?”

“They’re evil and destroy children’s health!” burst the blonde stranger that consequently had come closer and closer in curiosity without their notice to hear what their admittingly strange display had been about.

All three others in the room immediately startled and Sky’s hand even instinctively reached for his currently non-present sword, which they had understandably left in the car with his clothes. When he saw that there was no immediate danger, he quickly overplayed his reflex with a sheepish neck rub before lowering his hand again.

Malin was glaring at the woman, Luck was scowling, and Sky simply blinked at her confused: “Would you mind repeating that?”

“Of course” the woman said, giving a bright smile. “I’m so glad to finally have found someone I can save before the bad befalls them. Vaccines are evil. They give the people injected sicknesses on purpose. They cause gene defects and…” she ranted on, uncaring how half she said went right over the poor actually Hylian’s head. Luckily in that moment one of the assistants entered the waiting room, calling out: “Karen Miller!”

“Oh, that’s me, I have to go. But I’m so happy to have finally found someone whose parents were bright enough to protect them from the evils that are vaccines. They saved you from all the bad stuff like Asthma and other horrible sicknesses…” and with that the woman finally left the room.

Searching for help and a better explanation, Sky turned in confusion to his companions: “But hadn’t you said we were coming here to test me for Asthma? Which I might have even though I wasn’t hit with this vaccines?”

Malin sighed and gave Luck a slight glare as he nudged her to give a good explanation: “God, no. What she just said is absolute trash, so better forget it all.”

“What are vaccines then?” Sky then asked, head slightly cocked sideways in one of the most adorable looks of confusion, which oddly was very reminiscent of that of a chick. Malin did her best to not coo at that sight, before quickly delving into her best biology knowledge she still possessed from High School.

At the near end they were interrupted by the assistant again who called them into the doctor’s room, but at least it seemed that Malin’s quick explanation had cleared up the worst misunderstandings and gave Sky enough fodder to think about for the next few hours.

When they came into the room, after a quick greeting, Malin quickly handed the filled forms to the doctor, who accepted them with a kind nod. Then the elderly man asked: “Well then, nice to meet you, Mr. Sky. I’m Dr. Carita. What can I do for you today?”

“We think our friend might have asthma” Luck explained and the white-haired man nodded in acknowledgement.

“Can you tell me why you think so? Maybe describe some symptoms?” Dr. Carita inquired.

“He came from a much landlier region into our city yesterday, doctor” Malin quickly explained. “He couldn’t really breathe, was really out of it and was wheezing and gasping for air.”

“This morning it was slightly better but he was still coughing quite a concerning lot” Luck added. The doctor nodded in understanding before turning to Sky: “Could you elaborate a little more?”

“I’ve always been a bit faster out of breath than others but that’s not too much of a trouble usually and I don’t really remember most of yesterday after arriving. But this morning I awoke coughing a lot, I couldn’t breathe at all, it was horrible but luckily after a few minutes gone. But there’s still this new feeling of tightness in my chest, like while I breathe and breathe there’s something sitting on my chest, hindering me. And of course the usual shortness and sometimes a little bit of wheezing” Sky ended the listing.

The doctor gave a sound of acknowledgement before stating: “Mind lifting your shirt so I may check something?”

“Uh…sure?” the hero answered at that before hesitatingly lifting the borrowed sweater, thus giving the white clad man access to his chest and back area. Sky gave a small hiss of surprise when he felt the cool metal of the doctor’s stethoscope hit the exposed skin.

“Surprised?” the man joked kindly. “Yeah,” his patient admitted freely.

“Never done this before?” Dr. Carita questioned, sounding now a bit worried. “Well, our local healer wasn’t to big on using metal things, he tended to use more traditional ways to figure out our health” Sky replied carelessly.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Malin give him a look that screamed “Are you serious?!” and Luck’s hand twitch, which he didn’t know that the young man would have liked to use as a facepalm. Because while he couldn’t see the doctor’s face at that moment, they could and the old man’s face screamed in bold letters a confused: “How are you still alive?”

By the time Sky got a look at the old man’s face again, the male had composed himself enough to not let his patient know of his inner troubles and instead stated calmly: “I’d like to perform a spirometry test with you, Mr. Sky, if that would be alright. Spirometry is a type of pulmonary function test (PFT) used to diagnose lung conditions like asthma and COPD.”

“Okay” Sky agreed relatively quick, especially after the encouraging nods of both Luck and Malin.

Twenty minutes later the test was done and the trio went to the counter to get Sky’s prescription for his medication for his treatment. Which was were they sadly ran once more into the blonde woman, who was talking very animatedly with the poor male seated there, who looked ready to murder at that point.

“…this is atrocious, this is inacceptable, I’ll see you fired for this!” she hissed and Sky, ever the peacemaker, quickly stepped closer to intervene before an accident happened: “What is the problem, Madam?”

“He’s not writing me a recipe for antibiotics, though I need them!” she jeered as an answer, pointing accusing at the man, whose smile couldn’t be any more forced and look like a predator’s.

“The doctor has examined you, Mrs. Miller, and you only have a simple cold. You don’t need antibiotics and thus won’t get them prescribed” the man gritted out, patience run thin, a vein on his temples pulsating.

“But I need them!” she shot back, missing the point. Searching for someone to support her cause she turned to Sky: “Bright young man, please tell this incompetent fool to give me the medication I need to survive!”

Sky narrowed his eyes, understanding settling in. In the 15 minutes between the two phases of the spirometry test he had apparently had a lot of time to think about what he had learned in the waiting room.

“Mister” he said, turning to the now defeated looking male. “I’d like to be vaccinated. Best would be with every single one possible right now, so I am safe from ending up like this woman.”

The man visibly brightened at that, Malin laughed delighted and Luck cackeled while the woman gave an indignant screech of anger before storming off, seething.

But that was okay. Sky never liked bullies much anyway.

Another ten minutes later Sky sat in the back of the car once more, wincing every time he moved his left arm. Luck was still cackling under his breath while Malin was widely grinning. “You know” she stated, starting the car. “We’re gonna stop at my favorite coffee shop and get us some treats. After this you deserve some.”

And wasn’t this outlook for the future irresistible sweet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 1: I have nothing against Karen Miller's. If you're named Karen Miller, I apologize profundly for dragging it through the mud by making a woman like that to also wear your name.  
> Note 2: Again, fanart! Check the-magic-enchilada's little scene here: https://the-magic-enchilada.tumblr.com/post/626484227498754048/another-fanart-for-little-waterboiler-s-babble  
> Note 3: Due to personal life I'm going to have to put this story on a slight hiatus until the beginning of October. It's nothing bad, it's just I'm probably not being able to write enough in my spare time to give regularly chapter updates, which is going to be drastically reduced in that time frame. Thanks for understanding.  
> If you want something to read in the meantime, you can check out another LU story of mine, called "The Sword". It's already completely written and revised, I'm only taking my sweet time uploading it chapter by chapter. If interested, the Link is here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25825777/chapters/62738182  
> Read you lovely folks again in the beginning of October! ^^


	42. The one where you are manhunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping malls are big. Time to find some missing Links.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Drums* I'm back, baby! Hiatus is over, university started again and kicks my butt and I'm back on my bullshit. And you're back on this wild trainride.  
> Updates will come as usual Saturdays, though I'm not 100% sure I will manage an update every weekend, but well, I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see.  
> I feel like I'm a bit rusty, but well, it 'll be fine, probably.   
> Hope you enjoy!

Hell didn’t even start to describe the bus trip you had just left behind. Mentioned bus trip was likely to leave you grey by the time you hit thirty and shaved about ten years off your life expectancy.

No, you refused to remember but it started with the stares when you entered and that one woman getting her stupid pet chicken to the vets per bus and leaving the cage open.

Apparently, the innate hatred of cuccos to the lovely heroes of courage lived on in the average earthian chicken and crossed thus the borders of time and space.

All in all, it was not a nice bus ride and you thanked whoever was bothered to listen it was over.

Standing in front of the big mall, you gave a small sigh of relief before stemming your hands in your hips to lay out the war plan – seeing as it was likely that you were the only halfway sensible one who knew what was coming currently present: “Okay, game plan. We go in quick and quietly; buy the first halfway normal and fitting clothes we get our hands on and leave dis…”

“Shopping!” crowed Zelda, and it was like a war call to attack. Immediately most of the Links moved to follow her as she stormed the shopping mall, leaving you, Twilight and Four standing in their dust. Twilight gave you an apologetic shrug before following his wayward ward and Four stared off to nothing while you facepalmed.

“So much about the discrete part of this operation,” you complained through gritted teeth before grabbing Four by his arm and leading him inside. “Come on, we gotta put a stop this madness.”

Quickly catching up with the rest of the group that fought themselves through the masses of shoppers you tried to get some reminders into their head before the rest of this experience descended into chaos, not that your words found any purchase in their minds.

Instead every single person that might have listened to you – aka the Links, Zelda never listened to you in situations like these anyways – was staring at the shops around you as loud music played from speakers.

And people were staring at you all. You really should have made them change clothes before going out, seriously.

Some commented positively on the so called “cosplays”, another called you weirdoes. And then there was the mandatory group of squealing teenage girls, that goggled thirstily at the “cute” boys. One girl pointed at Legend in all his pantsmissing glory while elbowing her friend and whispering probably not so child friendly things in her ear, which promptly made the poor girl burst into a nice shade of red and look away while her friend looked like a cat that caught the canary.

Two other teenagers were eying poor Twilight like a nice piece of steak which made poor country boy blush and try to hide.

Another girl seemed to be ready to march up and demand Warriors’ nonexistent phone number, by force if necessary, it seemed, so you quickly pushed the whole troop along.

In the end you stood exhausted in front of the biggest clothes shop the mall had to offer and gave a look in the round, promptly facepalming. You were missing Legend, Wind and Hyrule. Wild apparently had been blessedly watched over by Twilight so he wouldn’t escape to explore.

“Okay, change of plans. I fetch the lost ones, you start with choosing the first few clothing sets. Alright? No one leaves the shop.”

Sending a firm glare at Zelda you punctuated: “You will watch them and be responsible in the meantime.”

Immediately walls of protests shot against you:

“But being responsible is boring!”

“We’re not little kids who need to be watched!” “Yes, you are, Wild.”

“Who made her babysitter anyway?”

“Quiet” you hissed out, giving them your best Legend copied glare. “Behave.”

And with that you went off to find the lost ones, hoping beyond hope that the others would listen to you, which sadly was not very likely.

Hyrule was luckily found almost too easily, having wandered off accidentally. You found him in the kid’s zone, the man working there giving you an exhausted smile as he handed him back to you.

Marching him back to the shop while he gave quiet apologies you then placed him next to Four, who apparently hadn’t felt the curiosity to explore the shop yet and instead opted to stare off, utterly spaced out. “Stay here” you ordered and Hyrule nodded sheepishly.

“Watch him” you told Four. Receiving no reaction, you took it as silent agreement, you stalked away again.

Poor him. Zelda’s furry obsession room really must’ve made an impact. Hopefully he’d snap out of it again soon.

Finding the rest of the escapers was a bit more troublesome but was soon also finished as you simply had to follow the screams of an enraged manager.

And there you found the two thieves, not looking guilty in the slightest, their pockets stuffed full of random stuff the gimmick store sold. And it wasn’t even their less than heroic pursuits that had gotten them into trouble, apparently it was the fact that they had started snowballfight 2.0 with the help of chalk bombs in the middle of the store.

The poor man had turned purple faced from his angry screams and you suppressed the urge to pat him consolingly on his back and tell him everything would be fine.

Instead you quickly pulled out one of the many credit cards that Zelda had simply hidden everywhere in your clothes and things and announced: “Sir, please calm down. I will pay for the damage they caused. They’re foreign exchange students that don’t know civilized culture. (The twin shouts of protests were so worth it.) I’m trying to teach them to do better.”

“Try better next time” the man snarled and beckoned you to the cash register where he charged everything destroyed, used or taken overpriced. You couldn’t fault him.

You still got a little mad when he banned the three of you for a lifetime from his shop, though.

Marching the now finally guilty heroes back to the clothes shop, you surveyed their “loot”, before promptly confiscating it.

Wind and Legend might act as if that was the end of the world but you were sure they would survive the loss of the squishies, invisible ink pens, puttys and other stuff they had taken.

“Behave and ensure the others do, too” you told them with a glare. “And then you’ll get one of your fighting pens back.”

That cheered them up enough and they squared their shoulders to ensure your order would be followed, promptly herding together the other Links.

Counting them, you realized at last Wild had gone missing, too. Freaking Fantastic (mind the sarcasm).

Searching Zelda, you found her clutching a pink, bunny themed hoodie and some other curious clothing choices while she was browsing through a stack of kilts. “Zel, I swear, seriously, you didn’t keep an eye on them!”

“They survived fighting for their lives, they will survive a mall” she answered unmoved continuing her search, pulling out a pink kilt with a satisfied grin.

“But my nerves won’t!” you told her.

“Relax” she told you. And promptly held a grey T-shirt with a kitten printed on it under your nose: “Isn’t this the cutest? Do you think it’ll fit Twilight?”

You felt like tearing your hair out at that moment.

Maybe it would be wiser to actually leave them in their current clothes if everything Zelda picked ended up looking like this.

“I’m going to find Wild” you announced frustrated, stalking off as she fished a gaudy four-colored zip-up hoodie out of a stack of other hoodies.

You were feeling a headache beginning to form.

Now where could Wild, arson loving half-feral amnesiac placed in a whole different time, be?

With a small sigh you went off to the nearest weapon shop.

God, now you knew how Twilight felt a huge chunk of his time.


	43. The one where you deal with technical stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the Wild and Babble centric chapter you voted for at last!  
> This stupid thing fought me every step of the way. But it's done now, finally.  
> Like I said, I'm busy, so every week or second week there'll be updates. So hope you enjoy this one!  
> Also, I forgot to put this last chapter, but we got a doodle page for Babble (or at least an interpretation of them) drawn by the-magic-enchilada as a celebratory post for Babble's return from hiatus! Check it out here: https://the-magic-enchilada.tumblr.com/post/630494717209116672/oops-my-hand-slipped-some-more-art-for

You didn’t find Wild at the weapon shop. Which was mildly said frustrating. And worrying.

And so you started to systematically comb through every single shop in the stupidly huge mall. Which were sadly, a lot.

You could already feel the headache forming.

Luckily, after half an hour of intense scouring you found him. To be honest, you’d almost have missed him if you hadn’t seen him carrying his Sheikah Slate.

Why?

He somehow now wore normal, modern clothes. Plain light blue jeans and dark blue T-shirt and somehow had found a brush to wrestle the monster that was his hair into a messy braid.  
You didn’t want to know which poor crushing soul he scammed out of their clothes for this to happen.

And the place where you found him?

The goddamn technic store.

You had half a heart attack but miraculously he didn’t seem to recognize the figure on the old Breath of the Wild posters still hanging near the entrance.

Instead he walked to the clerk and actually asked if she’d know how to get his Sheikah Slate starting again.

She looked impressed at what she must have thought of as a very detailed remake from a tablet and while she obviously didn’t judge it as real it still gave you half a heart attack to see it in the stranger’s hands: “Wow, I must say having made this takes dedication to a next level. But it’s no wonder it stopped working.” At Wild’s confused gaze she gave a quick grin and quickly walked away into the back of the shop, leaving Wild to stand befuddled alone at the counter.

You took the chance and quickly stepped up next to him. “There you are.”

He nearly seemed to jump out of skin at your sudden appearance next to him before stuttering out: “H-hi, Babble, no I was not disobeying your direct orders to stay put, not at all. This is a misunderstanding!”

You raise an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Okay, fine, so I did ignore your orders but I saw this store when we came in and I thought that maybe it could help me fix up my slate? I feel kinda helpless without it…” the last part came out practically whispered and you sighed, patting his back consolingly.

“I’m not sure if our technicians have it within them to fix something Sheikah made…”

“I can only hope…she said she knows what’s wrong with it and…after all on their advertisement posters the person also carries a slate” he gave out with a small shrug.

Your jaw dropped open.

Weeeell…damn. He did see the posters after all.

But thankfully he didn’t interpret it the worst way it could be interpreted, so there’s that bonus at least. “You still worried us” you stated, trying to calm your racing heart. You really dodged a bullet there.

“Sorry” he muttered, looking to the floor ashamed.

“It’s alright…I’ve found you know at least. Don’t do so again.” He nods.

And then the woman returned with a smile: “There you go, all fixed, dearie. You glued the

charging point for your tablet shut in your attempt at getting a realistic Halloween costume. It happens sometimes, don’t worry, but I must say, this is the best is the best one I’ve ever seen. I could even use the material I cut out to gain access to the loading point to build a small flap, so you can seal it up again and still use it in water. It really is genius what you made.”

“Wait what?!” you burst out and stared at Wild’s Sheikah Slate, which indeed showed a basic USB loading port. “No way…no freaking way.”

“Is there a problem?” the shop assistant voiced questioningly.

“N-no!” you squeaked out, voice an octave higher than usual, utterly freaked.

How could this have happened? How could Wild’s Sheikah Slate have a modern-day application USB loading port hidden within?

Why did it happen?!

“Do you have another tablet just like this?” you voiced hesitantly, wondering how she would react. “You probably know which type of tablet this is, right? Can I buy it, too?”

The woman sighed, fidgeting, before admitting quietly: “To be entirely honest…yes, you can technically…because it’s a new model, not build from a big company but entirely homemade…I haven’t sold or made many of these yet, so it’s a genuinely nice surprise to meet someone who actually has and uses one of mine…”

“You’re the inventor?!” you burst out surprised while Wild tries to deny it at the same time, claiming it impossible. You quickly hold his mouth shut. This mystery was worth a few thousand dollars, you didn’t even have to ask Zelda about spending it, you knew she’d agree.

“I definitely want one now.”

The woman blushed and nodded, quickly disappearing into the back of the store.

Wild turned to you with a frown: “You can’t seriously believe her. She’s scamming you. There’s no way she invented anything of my Slate.”

“Possibly” you agreed. “But it’s definitely worth the risk, especially because she seemed genuine.”

Wild still does not look convinced.

The woman returned, looking flustered. “Here you go” she stated, handing you a plain looking devise, nothing really outstanding on it, except for a small light blue signature on the side. It truly had the same size as Wild’s slate…and even the loading point at the same strange side spot.

If the situation didn’t seem as impossible as it probably was, you could have sworn you held what was a proto slate in your hands…before the Sheikah were done with it, of course.

You didn’t voice your thoughts, instead you paid. You paid for the tablet, Wild’s Slate reparation and a portable phone charger and left, Wild being able to actually charge his slate with it, your thoughts racing and absolutely ready to explode.

What the actual heck was going on here?

“You okay?” Wild asked, touching your shoulder worried for you, snapping you out of your spiraling thoughts.

“Yes, I think” you stutter out, packing the new tablet into your backpack with a small frown.

“Let’s just…let’s just get to the others and pray that we get there before Zelda manages to already pay…I do not want to see you wear what she chose for you poor folks.”

“Really?” Wild voices. “She’s that bad? Now you’ve made me curious.”

“No” you state with a small grimace. “She’s worse.”

“Now I really have to see.”

…

Standing at the counter, paying for the clothes she chose for her come to life idols, Zelda sneezed.

“Bless you” stated the cashier, an emotionless mask hiding the pity she felt for the poor souls the blonde in front of her chose the clothes for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I'd like to hear your theories...  
> Bonus 1: I forgot to put this last chapter, but we got a doodle page for Babble (or at least an interpretation of them) drawn by the-magic-enchilada as a celebratory post for Babble's return from hiatus! Check it out here: https://the-magic-enchilada.tumblr.com/post/630494717209116672/oops-my-hand-slipped-some-more-art-for


	44. The one where they meet a familiar stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Malin's childhood friend!

Malin’s favorite coffee shop was a bit of drive away, but it sold the best hot chocolate ever, so it was well worth it. It was situated across the street from another, smaller carnival and not too far from the still open portal and was therefore relatively busy.

Having managed to snag a table for the three of them, Malin and Luck quickly instructed Sky to wait and went to get some drinks. And that’s where they met the first roadblock.

“Sorry, but our coffee machine is broken” the barista stated calmly. “The hot chocolate ones luckily still work, though.”

While Luck seemed horrified at the news, Malin took these news in stride: “Alright, three hot chocolates then, please.”

They paid and the barista gave them their order and together they carried the three hot beverages to their table. That’s when Malin realized hers was missing its straw.

“Wait here please, I’m getting myself a straw” she said, quickly speeding off before Luck could offer to do it for her, ever the romantic sap and gentleman. But Malin would be damned if she would risk allowing Luck to get lost in this crowded shop just for a straw.

And that’s when she crashed into another person, accidentally spilling the hot chocolate the other was holding over them.

“Gosh, I’m sorry!” she brought out, only to gasp in surprise at seeing a face nearly identical to her own, framed by wavy red hair, a light pink flower pinned into the fiery locks.

“It’s okay, don’t worry!” the other young woman gave out gently, even smiling, quickly pulling out a few tissues to pat at the brown spot on her light blue top.

Malin blinked and then she stuttered out: “Marina? Marina Gullsea, could it be?”

“Huh?” asked the other girl, before adding more coherently: “How did you know?”

“We were in the same primary school, remember? It’s me, Malin” Malin grinned out, just barely resisting the urge to hug her, lest her T-Shirt also received a chocolate stain. “When did you move here? I thought your father wanted to live his life out as a fisher at the sea.”

Marina blinked in surprise, face scrunched up in thought before a small smile slipped on her face: “Oh, this is a surprise, I do remember you. They always thought we were twins and we played pranks on them by changing our places or even clothes. You were my best friend until the move…”

“We wrote letters for years and called…until one day you never picked up again or wrote back. What happened? Why?” asked Malin, excitement breaking in favor of sadness.

Marina looked saddened, eyes turning to her hands: “Dad surprised me with a boat trip with some others…the boat sunk. Miraculously we all got saved but were comatose for years, until we all suddenly woke up for no reason. It’s still a medical mystery for why and since no one died they decided to keep the whole matter quiet.”

“Oh…I’m sorry to hear that” Malin breathed out, ashamed for ever thinking her childhood friend had stopped writing on purpose.

“It’s okay, I’m getting my life back under control slowly, after all” Marina gently assured. “I’m even thinking about auditioning for a talent show and sing there. That way maybe I can become famous and travel everywhere to sing for everyone.”

“Yeah, that sounds nice” Malin smiled, remembering her childhood friend’s dream too well. “You got a fantastic voice, I know you can do it. Do you mind waiting here a second so I can grab some money to buy you a new chocolate? It’s my fault it was spilled after all.”

“That’d be nice, thanks Malin” muttered Marina sincerely, watching as the other redhead quickly disappeared into the crowd, soon reappearing with a small purse.

“Let’s get you your hot chocolate.”

…

Luck wanted coffee. There was not enough coffee in the world to deal with this, sadly. Malin had dragged them to a coffee shop and the coffee machine was broken so all he got was a hot chocolate. He sipped at it, steaming.

Sky at least seemed happy. And fascinated by the taste, probably not having encountered hot chocolate until now and just now discovered his sweet tooth. Lucky him.

Malin was off with some girl she just re-met, apparently some childhood friend. Was he jealous? Maybe a little, but the other girl looked cute from afar and his fiancé had proudly declared herself bi some time ago. He was maybe a bit worried, though he knew it was unfounded because he knows he can trust Malin.

And so he sat calmy, sipping his too sweet hot chocolate and wishing his love would return already.

And luckily for him at last she does.

With the other girl.

Luck really needed coffee.

But he was also happy for Malin who now dragged the other redhead to the table, beaming.

His first impression was right, other girl was cute. She actually looked scarily similar to Malin.

Maybe a doppelganger? He knew there are about four doppelgangers in the world for each person. And Malin probably found hers. Lucky.

“Marina, that’s Luck, my fiancé, and that’s Sky, who’s crashing with his companions at Luck’s little sibling’s best friend’s house. We took him to the doctors because he got Asthma” Malin ranted down with a large smile, gently guiding the other girl into the seat next to Sky, across from herself. “Guys, that’s Marina, she was my best friend in my childhood days and she only recently moved here. I’m so glad we encountered again!”

“Nice to meet you all” Marina muttered, looking curious and a bit overwhelmed.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too” gave Sky back kindly.

“Hi” stated Luck simply. He still didn’t have coffee, sadly. And so he sipped his hot chocolate, glancing outside the window to watch the nearby road leading to the carnival. Near here was the portal that first abducted his little sibling…he didn’t like this.

At the nearby bus-stop a bus held and a group of weirdly dressed people excited. Teenagers, these days, really. One of them was even wearing a pink kilt.

And another wore a shirt that definitely looked like one Luck himself could wear. At least one of them had some sense of fashion…

…though wait a minute, that group of people looked familiar.

Luck felt the blood drain from his face as realization hit. That wasn’t just a group of random people, that was their group of random people. What were they doing near the carnival? Near the portal?

“Malin! They’re here! What are they doing here?!”

“Huh?” she immediately looked outside confused, before paling, sighing and leaning back. “Alright, everyone drink up, we got some damage control to do.”

Turning to Marina, who watched the group entranced she added: “Sorry for the interruptions. We can catch up later, we’ve exchanged numbers after all.”  
“No, no, it’s okay” Marina quickly assured, snapping out of her own head. “I don’t mind coming with you. I like meeting new people and maybe we can catch up some more later that way.”

“Sounds fantastic” Malin beamed.

Luck emptied his cup and then quickly stood up: “Let’s go then before we loose sight of them. I don’t want to know what all could go wrong there.”

Sky emptied his cup with a happy hum and a chocolate beard, quietly voicing then: “Why are you acting like that’s so bad? We were stranded on a carnival at the beginning.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t there for the sake of going on there” Luck answered grimly. He could bet that this was Zelda’s idea, who was full out abusing the time she finally had without Impi.

…

And his sibling had apparently borrowed one of his shirts again. Fantastic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may scream at me in the comments.


	45. The one where you can see trouble brewing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See chapter title

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, this chapter fought me tooth and nail. But at least it's here now even though the universe insists on kicking my butt.  
> Anyways, I can't wait for the next sub-arc to start. Which will be soon. *evil cackling*  
> Be prepared!  
> For now enjoy this chapter! ^^

There’s a lot of things that can go wrong in a simple situation. And usually one of these things will go wrong, knowing your luck because you were not Luck.

And news flash – one of these things that will go wrong just because they can is obviously your best friend abusing her newfound freedom. Namely to drag you all to the nearby carnival. Which meant you were now exactly where you had started.

And Zelda had even dared to phrase your unplanned excursion as fun and let everyone vote on this unknown fun. Which obviously a lot of them chose as Zelda swore up and down it wouldn’t be harmful. You always enjoyed to watch Zelda twist people around her little finger with her words…to bad that she used this weapon of mass destruction against you and common sense now.

“It’s gonna be fun” she assured you with a grin, patting your shoulder before going to check on a sickly-looking Wind. “Plus we gotta be here.”

“Have I ever mentioned hearing you say these words is the opposite of reassuring?” you mumbled as she sent Warriors off with Wind to the men’s toilet to help the poor pirate calm his stomach and if needed empty it. Zelda shrugged, and the bad feeling in your stomach area only increased.

“Welcome to fun!” she then declared to the five remaining Links. “We got a lot planned today, so hop, hop, hop!” And with that she opened a map she had swiped of a nearby info stand and gestured happily to a few attractions. “Alright, we gotta go here and here and here! And it’s gonna be a ton of fun!” And thus, once a slightly better looking Wind returned with Warriors, you were off.

Zelda was excited and kept babbling to whoever would listen about what she all had plotted for that day. Which was poor Four, who was dragged along by Twilight – who attracted the stares of thirsty passersbys for more than just his frankly adorable kitten T-Shirt, that clung perfectly to his admittingly well trained frame.

Phtt, no wonder Zel choose that one shirt. Poor farmboy hadn’t understood the real reason behind it, though, rather happy over the cute kitten printed on the front.

Also…talking about Four - should you contact a therapist about the kind of trauma Zelda induced to him? Since seeing Zel’s furry room he hasn’t done much at all, it might be a good idea…though maybe better not. You weren’t too sure how a human therapist could help a technically Hylian hero without redirecting him to the loony bin.

Well damn. Guess poor kid would have to deal with this himself.

At least Wind seemed to feel a bit better as he munched on some sweets he had snatched from a nearby stand. Just this once you all decided to turn selectively blind seeing as he wasn’t caught and was now smiling and joking with Warriors again.

Falling to the back of the group, you looked at Legend who was hanging a bit behind, much to the worry of Hyrule, which his glances revealed you.

“Hey Leg” you tried to start the casual talk. “You okay?”

He glances at you, looking tired: “…do I look okay?”  
You wince: “No, not really. Was Zel’s room really that traumatizing? I hadn’t been in there quite some time, so I don’t know how much she added on to what I saw last.”

“I suspected but…to hear you admit it this readily…” He pauses, actually stops his walk and then looks at you utterly betrayed: “You knew. And yet you didn’t say a single thing to warn us.”

“Well, I did tell you to stay put!” you immediately defend, raising your hands in defense.

This only seems to infuriate him even more: “You knew! And you know us that we’d ignore it! And yet you didn’t say a single ducking thing! Left us to find out for ourselves! Is some kind of sick game, some sick joke for you?” he accuses, eyes narrowed, teeth gritted.

“Woah, calm down, it was just a room” you try to soothe immediately. The furry room wasn’t this traumatizing, was it?

“Just a room?” he repeats quietly, voice nearly inaudible, shaking his head. “No…”  
His gaze steels and suddenly you feel like you made a horrible mistake, yet you can’t pinpoint why.

“I can’t ever believe I ever trusted you.” He straightens, features hardening, gaze steeling. And then he spits out almost poisonous: “This is just a game for you, after all.”

And with that he quickly speeds up, catching up with Hyrule who glances at him worriedly, but Legend only shakes his head, telling him not to worry. You’re left alone at the end of the group, frowning, his words ringing in your head.

Okay, what was with all his weird drama about one simple room? The furries weren’t that bad, yes, they were bad but not this level of bad that they warranted this kind of behavior.

Rude.

You scoff, the jerk wanted to act this way? Fine, two could play a game.

You didn’t need them for your survival anymore, you were home and planning to go anywhere any time soon. If anything, they were dependent on you, so they better be thankful and play nice.

And if not, who cares? Certainly not you…

The furry room really couldn’t have been that bad, right? Unless…

…no, Zelda wouldn’t lie to you straight in your face about a huge thing like this. She was your best friend, you would walk straight through hell and back for her. You know you can trust her.

Zelda leads you all to a high free fall tower and buys for everyone tickets. You squeeze forward to talk to her: “I’m not sure this is a good idea…”  
“Why not? They’re used to falling and before that we will have a good view of the park and everything around it. It’ll be fine and fun.”

The Links didn’t seem to think being strapped in was the definition of fun, but seeing others follow your examples they relented. And then you all went up, up, up.

The view was amazing and as you circled you could see the whole park borders and even beyond. Beyond the carnival was a large street that was largely closed off street that was blocked and barricaded by police. And within this blockage was a familiar large black portal.

You avert your eyes, stomach churning at the sight. You hated this stupid thing so much…

A gasp from Zelda drew your attention away and she gestures excitedly to the coffee shop just across the borders of the carnival: “Look who’s coming out there! Aren’t these Luck, Malin and Sky? Oooh! They got another girl with them! And Luck looks mad!”  
“What?” you bring out, trying to catch a glimpse but no matter how you turned, you couldn’t see a thing.

And that’s when the seats stopped circling, your eyes were cast on the portal just in sight.

And then came the first fall.

Screams, shouts, surprised words and then you were pressed down in your seat as gravity caught up to you and adrenaline pumped your veins.

Falling, rising, falling, falling, rising.

Up, down, up, down, down.

Exhilarated screams and laughter.

And then came the final rise, your eyes gleamed the portal again.

It flickered and…was there something coming out from it?

 _Oh no_.

And then came the final fall and with it the screams and laugther.

And that’s when the screaming beyond the park started, followed by gunfire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Legend stans, you may scream at me now in the comments. And the others, too, of course.


	46. The one where there is blank chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title says it all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You ready to scream? No? Good. *evil cackling*  
> Ready or not, here it comes! In extra long format!  
> Enjoy!

The world was upside down. Right is left, in is out and everyone is screaming and running, trying not to get trampled. Escaping the free fall was the easiest. Fighting against the panicked masses to reach the portal and figure out where the screams and gunfire had originated from was the opposite of easy. When you had reached the portal, your numbers had been decimated to just Zelda, you, Twilight, Hyrule, Wild and Warriors.

Have you ever wondered what other beings than Hylians would turn into when they cross the universe? Now you know and it wasn’t pretty.

Gunfire from the police added a tense rhythm, a strange kind of melody to the already mad situation as a horde of angry wild boars attacked the brave people still shooting, a bear picking up a car and tossing it. A crocodile laid dead on the ground, five others taking its place in this otherworldly take over.

Could this be Dark Link’s monster army? Or at least what was left of it?

This…was suboptimal. Especially seeing as you all were pretty much weaponless, seeing as the heroes were unable to use their magically operated bags and thus had only to fall back on their swords.

Wild holds his Sheikah Slate like a lifeline and as the other present heroes started to also fight the too many enemies turned animals, trying to help you three weaponless ones, you quickly approached him, Zelda in tow. “Wild, time to see if that shop assistant really fixed the port!”

“How do I do that?” he voiced back, feeling helpless and hating that feeling.

“Zel, can we borrow your portable charger?” you called out to her over the sound of gunfire.

She looked like she wanted to ask a billion questions, but recognizing the direness of the situation she quickly handed it over. You swiftly inserted it in the loading port the shop assistant had freed…

…and watch fascinated as the device lights up as energy fueled it once more.

“How?” breathed Zelda out.

“It worked…” you whispered ecstatic.

Wild wasted no time assessing his weapons menu, dropping a large pile of weapons for all of you to take before swiftly arming himself. Time to fight against the horde of real world made monsters and let as few pass you by as possible…

0oOo0

Luck swiped the hammer he had borrowed from a ring-the-bell game at an incoming boar, managing to effectively keep it away from him. Malin next to him did the same with a pitchfork she had snatched out the pony riding attraction which before only had served ornamental purposes but now did a pretty good job as a weapon.

“Where are all the animals coming from?” he breathed out between pants, trying to dodge the panicked crowd coming their way.

“I don’t know! But we lost Marina” Malin informed, fending a horde of crazy bats off.

“What?!” brings out her fiancé, knocking an elbow in a very angry wolf before quickly knocking the animal out.

“Don’t worry, Sky went to go find her!”

“In the middle of a terrified crowd alone in modern times?! Now I am really worried!”

0oOo0

Marina ran. Having lost the rest of the group by the stampede, she had stumbled away only to find herself surrounded by oversized rats, which were intent on killing her. Determined not to go down this easy, the aspiring singer had swiftly climbed one of the stands, only to have the mutated mad animals follow her up.

Looking around, Marina quickly spotted a broken chair. Grabbing one of the metallic legs, she swiftly used it as a club to fend the rabid beings off…there were so many…

Why were these many wild animals here? Why was there gunfire?

It felt so unreal, more like a dream…Marina had many dreams…especially in her coma. And once she had woken, she had dreamed she was fighting a war.

But these were not dreams, these were cold reality and Marina did not posses any special powers to save her now.

Still, she was determined not to die, and so she did the only thing she could think of seeing as she was surrounded by animals intending on ending her so far admittingly very short life.

She fought back.

She fought back and got bitten and scratched and she fell a few times only to get up determined to continue fighting.

And then she heard someone calling her name: “Marina!”

Marina looked up and hope blossomed in her chest as a silver sword fought to fight through the enemy hordes to her: “Sky!”

“Are you alright?” he asked. She nodded, breathlessly, a silly moment wondering why she wasn’t freaked out at all to have someone carrying a sword near her. Then her gaze fell to the rats around them, the gigantic spiders now also crawling closer, a horde of boars rushing near terrified humans and bears and crocodiles alike attacking people wildly.

Ah yes, he was an armed friend in a situation where they were surrounded by enemies. Of course it was a good thing to see him then like this.

“We gotta stop them before they can attack us or others further” she stated, shaking. Sky nodded, this much was clear.

“Let’s bring the whole stand down on them. Just gotta cut the pillars. I will act as bait to distract them” she explained.

“No, that’s too dangerous” he argued back. “I can do so alone.”

“Don’t be stupid” she chided. “You wanna play the hero, fine. But don’t risk our lives for that. I will distract and you will cut the pillars supporting the roof of this stand. Or do you want me to cut them with your sword while you distract?”

“You can’t” he immediately protested, gripping the handle of his sword tightly, conflict evident in his face.

“Then do as I told you” she stated, determination glittering in her brown eyes and then she was off. But…for some reason the animals now seemed more interested in attacking Sky than her. This ruined her half-plotted plan even further!

Marina couldn’t let this stand.

And so she did the only thing she could think of to catch the attacker’s attention. She started to sing.

A haunting melody popped from her lips, one she dreamed of so many times and these infuriating beings turned away from Sky to follow and attack her as she fought against them with her metallic chair leg.

Hack, hack, one pillar down.

Marina sung and fought and stumbled and sung…

Hack, hack, the second pillar was down, the main one in the middle groaning in protest.

And then a boar came running and she barely dodged it. So much force…

An idea rose as Sky started hacking at the last outer support.

Marina sung, and when the boar came next to attack her, she had swiftly climbed the main pillar. Wood splintered under the strength and she jumped, stumbled and the roof finally gave in, the little support breaking easily like a toothpick.

But she was out, panting, sitting by the carnage, crumbled and breathing and hysterically laughing even as the dust and adrenaline had yet to settle.

“Are you alright?” asked Sky unnecessarily, bowing down next to her kneeling form as she was still laughing like a madwoman. But before Marina could lie, screams cut through the air and Sky hurried away to help the two young men cornered by crocodiles, for the moment thinking her safe.

She wasn’t, sadly, for when she turned her head from the dust cloud there appeared a bear, stomping and roaring upset.

“Oh duck” Marina breathed and tried to stand and run, only to find her ankle caught and tightly trapped in the wreckage as the beast closed in.

Oh god, no, no, no, she was stuck! Was this the end? Was she going to die?

“Sky! Sky!” she called out, wrenching, tugging, pulling, all for nothing.

He didn’t come, too far away helping too many strangers.

“Help! Anyone! Help!”

Desperately she clawed at her ankle, frantically trying to get her foot loose.

The boar raised its paws over its head and Marina looked away, not ready to look Death in its eyes. Because her life had been so short.

She had still so many things to do and to see and she still wanted to win that talent-show…she still wanted her music to be spread all over the world to bring joy to people…she still wanted to travel to distant lands…she still wanted to find love…the one her dreams had shown her…

Oh god, oh god, this was the end…

…

Something blocked the bear’s swing with a loud thud. Marina looked up horrified what might have happened now, only to gasp softly. For surrounded within the smokey cloud which once the bear was…

Her dream…

Her guardian angel…

He had descended to save her!

With a mighty swing of his golden sword he had decapitated the monster and Marina looked away blushing when she realized that he wasn’t wearing trousers and from her angle on the ground she definitely had a good view on what lay beneath his kilt…

Her face burning, she buried it in her hands. What a perverted woman she was!

But well…her guardian angel truly didn’t have anything to be ashamed of, truly.

The heavy supporting metal that held her foot in place suddenly lifted and Marina allowed herself to breathe and quickly pull her limb free.

And then a hand was held in her face and her kind angel asked her: “Are you alright? Can you stand?”

Marina finally dared to look up and was instantly drowned in a sea of blue. Like waves they pulled her under his spell, no escape. Her mouth opened softly, but no sound came out as she took in her savior.

He meanwhile had a very different reaction. A gasp broke forth and he stumbled back as if he had been struck, a quick series of emotion ranging from shock and denial to joy and something Marina couldn’t quite place before he softly breathed out: “Marin?”

0oOo0

Wind hated feeling helpless. He hated it when he saw that cursed bird carry his sister away and he hated it now as he was separated from the rest of his group, only an unreacting Four by his side, which he now also had to defend as he tugged through a maze of unknown things, rabid animals that behaved like monsters would after them.

Ducking under a wooden counter, the youngest hero pushed his friend to look at him, swearing at him, trying to wake him out his stupor.

But nothing, nothing he said or did showed any sign of snapping Four out of whatever he was in.

Wind felt tears of desperation prick in his eyes. And despair turned to anger. And anger lashed out: “You gotta wake up, Four! I really need your help!”  
No answer, only glazed multicolored orbs looking past him.

And anger turned to indescribable fury. “Whatever you’re thinking of, whatever you’re looking at, it’s not real! You gotta wake up!”

No reaction. Not even a blink.

Nothing.

And then Wind lashed out in teenage fury, the slap bringing them both back in the present.

“Wh-what?” stuttered the multicolor-clothed teen, eyes finally focused again. He stared wide eyed at Wind and then held his cheek, stinging and red from where a hand-shaped bruise started to form.

“Oh, goddesses, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t react and we’re in great danger” Wind quickly brought out, guilt heavy like lead in his stomach, but he had to concentrate on the current situation.

If he was a bit less stressed and out of it, Wind might have noticed his friend’s normally very colorful eyes, that tended to switch or even be multiple colors at the same time, had taken on a nice, simple singular aqua color. But alas at that moment he didn’t.

“What…? Where…?” Wind’s companion brought out, disoriented beyond compare until he looked around. “Why are we near a rollercoaster? How did I get here?”

A roar of a nearby monster turned animal made both teenagers jump up and turn on their heels, the colorful clad youth giving out a sound of horror: “What the actual…why are there wild animals running around? Was there a zoo breakout I wasn’t informed about?!”

The incoming bear roared. Wind grabbed his friend’s hand and quickly pulled him along in speed run.

“Where are we going? This way leads directly onto the rollercoaster!” the teen protested, eyes wide. “Less talking, more running” insisted Wind, ignoring the other’s warning until they suddenly stood right in front of said coaster, the ways out barricaded by the bear and a crocodile.

The colorful teen narrowed his eyes before quickly pushing Wind into the car of the train, determined locking him in place. “What are you doing?” the younger hero immediately protested, trying and failing to get out.  
“Hopefully saving your hide, kid” answered his friend, aqua eyes gleaming as a plan formed. And while Wind immediately protested at his choice of nicknaming him, the other ran to the manager’s cabin. Pressing random buttons, he quickly found the right one to get the whole thing started, overriding the system quite efficiently, Wind squeaking in protest when suddenly the wagons started moving.

Meanwhile the colorful teen narrowly managed to pass the bear, quickly reaching the train just as it left station and climbing onto it, narrowly managing to wiggle between the lap-locked restrains.  
“This doesn’t seem very safe” muttered Wind, frowning at the other teen.

“It isn’t” he shot back with a wry grin just as the train reached the hill it started to be slowly pulled up. “But it works on TV so I guess I’ll take my chances.”

Wind shot him a disbelieving look, inwardly wondering when the other had the time to watch that much on Babble’s Zelda’s strange device. But then he furrowed his brows in worry as he saw the blood dribbling down from a gash on his friend’s arm, where the bear managed to get him.

“You okay, Four?” Wind asked, worried. The other looked at him, admittingly confused until his gaze found the gashes and stated simply: “Oh.”

And then they reached the highest point of the climb up.

“I’d advise you to hold on” the colorful teen gave out with a looped grin, adrenaline pumping his veins.

And then they fell.


	47. The one where there are solutions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry my dearest readers for this long and unplanned Hiatus of over two months.  
> Origininally I had planned a Christmas special but this died when my grandfather almost did through a stroke at the 23rd of December. I barely managed to get my already written secret santa one-shot posted.   
> He's better now, thankfully though it took quite the time.  
> Meanwhile I immersed myself in the world of roleplaying and Four Swords, so my motivation kinda fled there.   
> (Yes, you can find them in fic form on this website...or well, the beginning of one if there's interest. The name's "Shattered Time", let's see who of you can guess which character I RP as.)  
> But I guess I'm now in a much better situation and can continue. 
> 
> May I just say my Inbox stuffed to the brim with 42 amazing comments blew me away, really. Which is probably the main reason this new chapter has come.  
> So a heartfelt shout-out to all brave reviewers who even with my apparent absence reviewed to their best. I love you all and you are what keeps this fic going.  
> And also a shoutout to kenKazaki, a new reader who's long, multiple reviews woke me up in the mornings and made me smile. Thank you, I'll set onto answering your reviews immediately after posting this.  
> Now after all of this, onto the next chapter.   
> You are all the best. Thank you. *Hugs you all*  
> Now onto the next chapter! 
> 
> *drumroll* Chapter 40!

Wild's weapons are an utter blessing and at last you all managed to arm yourselves and stand your ground when teamed up with the police, killing enough animals gone crazy to not let them pass and endanger or even kill civilians anymore. But also you are all human and so sooner rather than later you are getting tired while Dink's forces turned animals aren't getting any less.

Panting, you hack with the axe you had chosen at the nearest ex-monster, effectively turning it to dust. Glancing around you realised you weren't the only one getting tired. "What now?!" you ask your best friend between two strangled breaths, hoping she'd have a clever answer.

Her face scrunches up as sweat beads at her forehead, she doesn't look happy at all and exhausted, limbs holding a sword and shield trembling. "...let...let me...think" she huffs out before giving a panicked shriek as a boar zooms in on her, your friend barely managing to dodge the attack, before Warriors, bless his beautiful but overrated face, spears it up and gives her some breathing and thinking room.

Zelda blushes, smiling at him a bit dreamily and you sigh, knowing for the next minute or two you will probably not get a coherent answer for she has been star struck.

Luckily there's no need to waste that time.

"How about closing it?" A too familiar voice asks rhetorically.

You turn and glance back and smile: "Impi!"

And there she stands as large as life in her business heels long enough to kill a man by spiking his heart with the heel, Time shadowing her dutifully, holding a machete Impi got who knows where from. She herself carries guns double-handed, ready to shoot whatever moves wrong in her direction, doing just that with another boar moments later. "I didn't get invited to this party" she complains flatly, casually, like this was some sort of sick party and not some life or death situation.

"Sorry!" Zelda calls out with a wince, snapping out of her celebrity induced crush and shielding herself against a bear swipe with the now slightly damaged knight shield. "We were kinda busy. Next time you'll get a formal invite."

"I better" Impi notes cooly as she ends the bear with a headshot. Time then runs off to help one of the boys or policemen, you are too busy to check for sure.

"So you're gonna do it now or not, kid?" the bodyguard voices and you nod, scrambling for your backpack. The gold and white journal seems to glow in your hands as you hold it carefully.

Quickly you get a pen out and write: "The black portal should close." And the book glows and grows warm in your hands…

...but earthian anti-magic defenses weaken the magic of your notebook and thus make it unable to cancel the other out.

Which means you have to get closer for this to work.

Duck.

"I can't close it from here!" you call out desperately, sticking the pen behind your ear and clutching the book against you as you swing the axe again. "I have to get closer!"

"Closer?!" Hyrule gives out, looking highly unhappy that you are ready to storm into danger.

"Got you!" Wild assures, readying himself to fight the way free for you. Twilight does not seem happy about that but joins right in to help him anyways.

"I'll take the other side!" Warriors gives out, doing just that. Did he and Wild team up now to try and pay you back for breaking your phone? ...possible.

Time joins in on his side and thus starts their fight to carve their way through enemy lines.

Hyrule stays back to help Impi protect Zelda and keep the barricade up, without his spells and magic in his fighting skills weakened. Not that it meant he couldn't hold his ground still. It's very impressive to watch.

Your group meanwhile fights a path through the rows of monsters turned animals and the closer you got, the stronger the notebook seems to grow.

"Still closer?" Twilight voices, crushing one unfortunate alligator's head under his big mallet he's been handed and thus turning it to dust.

You nod and Time swipes his machete: "Still closer it is then!" Seems like while you were gone he had a good sleep and some Impi-therapy to be back to his usual self. Good for him.

Closer, closer, still not close enough you go. And you realise with sudden clarity that you'll need to touch the portal with the book so that the magics are equal and cancel each other out.

Duck.

"I need to touch the portal, I think" you announce as they dust up a few more ex-monsters.

"You think? You do know there's still constantly monsters coming out there. So you'll be in grave danger because we can't directly protect you from that" Did Warriors actually sound concerned for you? Nice. Pretty boy apparently cared for more than his scarf, his looks and his companions...well, no. You're one of his companion's too, aren't you?

"So if you want to do this you have to know it works because you'll be in grave danger otherwise we might not be able to get you out from in time" Time adds, voice calm and steady.

"I can do it instead" Wild offers bravely, with no care for his own well-being as he is, which his mentor immediately denies: "No!"

And you have to agree with Twilight no matter how much easier and safer it'd be for you to just let Wild try. "No, I don't know if it'll work for you like it does for me cause you're not from the lost generation. We can't have you injuries for some experiment that might backfire" you take a deep breath to calm yourself and can see Twilight mirroring you, though his is in relief for his ward. And he looks guilty for feeling this relief though you cannot fault him for feeling this human emotion.

"I will do it and it will work" you add with more conviction than you feel, confidence as fake as it is interlacing your words.

The Links interchange looks and you can basically read the soundless exchange. Can we really trust this civilian with this?

And then Time finally nods: "Alright, Babble, then we'll do it. We'll help you."

And thus your group charges anew, slashing, hacking and fighting their way through the horde of monsters in a clear path even as they steadily continue to leave and charge out the portal.

And then you are in reach and no words are needed. Now or never, they're waiting for your signal.

A deep breath - maybe your last - and then you nod: "Now!"

And they clear the path, you swing your axe killing and dusting the boar just coming out and then touch your notebook to the portal.

And both light up, portal and notebook, the magics fighting and flickering, dark and light, before earth actually decides to help kick the magic out and the portal fizzles and closes just as the silhouette of the next monster about to turn animal appears.

And you breathe, sore and exhausted but alive and besides a few bruises unharmed, your knees giving in but Warriors and Wild help steady you before you can fall.

"Thanks" you pant out finally, head spinning. "I might actually think about forgiving you for breaking my phone now."

This draws a nervous chuckle from Warriors while Wild rubs the back of his neck with an awkward, lopsided grin as you regain your footing, hugging the magical notebook against yourself.

"Let's help with the clean up" Time suggests, snapping you all out of it and you remember, oh right, there's still the other monsters turned animals. He reaches and pats your shoulder and glancing up you realize he smiles...he's proud of you.

And you smile back and feel ready to take on the rest of Dink's forces.

...

Only, it turns out there's no need. Suddenly the carnage that was before is gone and the police are doing just fine on their own. Earth had reached out and erased what malice and fighting intelligence the monsters had, reducing them to true and very confused animals, some aggressive, many others not.

The fight is over.

Passing the police you breath in relief as you hear them talk about a terrorist attack that supposedly set the remaining wild animals free of a nearby zoo. You know the area, you know there's no zoo but apparently now there is and it's freaking scary how much earth goes to mess with it's people's minds and lives just to erase every trace of magic.

And you can't help but wonder if they already have another excuse for the disappearance of your bus but figure that you'll find out soon anyway.

More frightening is the thought of how many times your own mind might've been messed with regarding stuff like that and you decide you do not want to know. It's scary.

After stashing the notebook away in your backpack and everyone returning the weapons to Wild to store away in his now electricity charged slate to hopefully not be confused with the fictional terrorists, you follow the Links together with Impi and Zelda. It's time to regroup and figure out what next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also 0-0  
> On the 28th this fic is a year old...let's see what we can do for then...


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